ART & ARTISTS: William Roberts

Friday, 3 July 2026

William Roberts - part 3

Self-Portrait c1925
pencil and pink wash 12.7 x 9.8 cm

William Roberts 1895-1980: In the years before the First World War Roberts was a pioneer, among English artists, in his use of abstract images. In later years he described his approach as that of an "English Cubist". In the First World War he served as a gunner on the Western Front, and in 1918 became an official war artist. Roberts's first one-man show was at the Chenil Gallery in London in 1923, and a number of his paintings from the twenties were purchased by the Contemporary Art Society for provincial galleries in the UK. In the 1930s it could be argued that Roberts was artistically at the top of his game; but, although his work was exhibited regularly in London and, increasingly, internationally, he always struggled financially. This situation became worse during the Second World War – although Roberts did carry out some commissions as a war artist.

Roberts is probably best remembered for the large, complex and colourful compositions that he exhibited annually at the Royal Academy summer exhibition from the 1950s until his death. He had a major retrospective at the Tate Gallery in 1965, and was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1966. There has recently been a revival of interest in the work of this artist who always worked outside the mainstream.

Note: All images © reserved (Bona Vacantia)

This is part 3 of a 20-part series on the works of William Roberts:

1919 The Diners
oil on canvas 152.4 x 83.2 cm
Tate Gallery, London

1919 The Aeroplane Scout
pen, ink and wash 53.5 x 38.3 cm

1919 Sketch for a River Painting
graphite on paper 8.8 x 14 cm
Tate Gallery, London

Soldiers putting up Wagon Lines – study
pencil, ink and watercolour, squared, 15.9 cm x 16.5 cm

Soldiers Putting Up Wagon Lines
black chalk on beige 47 x 48.3 cm

1919 The Dancers study
pencil

1919 The Dancers
oil on canvas 152 x 116.5 cm
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre

c1919 Sparring Partners
watercolour and graphite on paper 35.5 x 25.5 cm
Tate Gallery' London

c1919 Sketch for River Painting
pencil 8.8 x 14 cm

c1919 Moonsnatchers
pencil and watercolour 20.3 x 12.7 cm

1919-20 Eight Figures Walking
pen and black and red inks 19.5 x 14.8 cm
Yale Center for British Art

The Interval before Round Ten
pen, black ink and watercolour, squared 36.2 cm x 48.4 cm

The Interval before Round Ten
oil on canvas 88.9 x 119.4 cm
Tate Gallery, London
(Note: The placard No.9 was changed to No.10 on the oil painting)

c1919-20 A Demonstration
pencil, ink and watercolour 14.3 x 20.3 cm

Cockneys
red chalk 37.5 x 38.1 cm

Cockneys
pencil, pen and black ink and watercolour 37.5 x 37.5 cm

1920 A London Family's first visit to the Country
pencil and gouache 20.3 x 15.0 cm

1920 The Art Critic, P. G. Konody

Paul George Konody was born in Budapest in 1872 and educated in Vienna before settling in London in 1889. From 1900 to 1902 he was editor of The Artist, and he was later an art critic for The Observer and the Daily Mail before the First World War. In 1914 he was one of three critics to be 'blessed' by Wyndham Lewis in Blast magazine No.1, and in 1917 he played an important role in Roberts being commissioned by the Canadian War Memorials Fund to paint the large-scale The First German Gas Attack at Ypres in 1918. He died in 1933.

1920 The Art Critic, P. G. Konody
oil on canvas 50 x 40 cm

1920 Taking the Oath

This is one of the few pictures by Roberts with overt political content, but its significance is obscure. It appears to show people being sworn into the 'Black and Tans', the paramilitary force specially recruited (from unemployed veterans among others) to suppress rebellion against British rule in Ireland. The map of Ireland on the wall is captioned 'British possessions marked red.' The men on the right are holding up their commission papers.

1920 Taking the Oath
pencil, ink and wash 25.4 x 25.4 cm

1920 Seated Woman (Sarah Kramer, later Roberts)
pencil on paper 33 x 33 cm

1920 Dock Gates
pencil and watercolour 22.9 cm x 30.5 cm

1920 Behind the Scenes
watercolour, pen and ink, pencil 36 x 52 cm

1920 Athletes Exercising in a Gymnasium
ink, watercolour and graphite on paper 45.1 x 35.9 cm
Tate Gallery. London

1920 The Cinema – study
pencil and watercolour 20 x 16.5 cm

1920 The Cinema
oil on canvas 91.4 x 76.2 cm
Tate Gallery, London

1920 The Stockbroker's Clerk

‘A portrait of one of the artist’s brothers, who worked in a stockbroker’s office and died young’ – Tate Gallery 1965 catalogue. In the 1921 England and Wales census, WR’s brother Joseph (b. 1903) appears as a stockbroker's clerk employed by T. G. Washington & Co. of Copthall Court, EC.

1920 The Stockbroker's Clerk
oil on canvas 76.8 x 63.5 cm
British Council Collection. London

The Travelling Cradle – study
(aka The Builders’ Cradle and The Builder's Cradle)
pencil, pen, ink and watercolour, squared 38.1 x 27.9 cm

1920-21 The Travelling Cradle
(aka The Builder's Cradle)
pen, ink, pencil and wash, 58.8 cm x 43 cm

1920-21 At the Hippodrome
chalk and wash study 49 x 46.6 cm

1920-21 At the Hippodrome
oil on canvas 97.8 x 92.7 cm

1920-21 Jewish Melody

Sarah Roberts with her mother, Cecilia Kramer. The notes prepared with the cooperation of Sarah and John Roberts in the National Portrait Gallery 1984 catalogue say that ‘(William) Roberts was very fond of his mother-in-law, Cecilia Kramer. She had tremendous character and intellect, thinking nothing of translating Russian poets into Yiddish.

Sarah with Guitar (aka The Banjo)
pencil 53.5 30.5 cm

Jewish Melody
oil on canvas c160 x 90 cm

c1920-21 Pimps in a Bar
graphite on paper 17.8 x 14 cm
Tate Gallery, London

1920-23 Fred
oil on canvas 62.5 x 51 cm

c1920-24 The Port of London
oil on canvas 53.3 x 74.8 cm
Tate Gallery, London

1920-31 Sarah

Frontal head and chest portrait of the artist's wife, Sarah Roberts. The subject is a young woman with thick, dark hair in a short bob; she wears a plain round neck dress and her head is turned looking off to the left. The subject sits with her body facing the viewer, against a plain indistinct background.