Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A. 1860 - 1942
LANDING FROM THE BOAT, c. 1930
Pencil and oil on canvas
51 by 76cm.; 20 by 30in.
Private collection
Walter Richard Sickert (Born Munich, 31 May 1860; died Bathampton, Somerset, 22 January 1942), was a British painter, printmaker, teacher, and critic, one of the most important figures of his time in British art. He was born in Germany of a Danish-German father and an Anglo-Irish mother and his outlook was appropriately cosmopolitan. The family settled in London in 1868.
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
Pimlico, London, c.1937
Oil on canvas
H 60.8 x W 73.4 cm
Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums
Pimlico is an area of Central London in the City of Westminster. It is known for its garden squares and Regency architecture.
H.G. Wells, in his novel The Dream, says that there was a wharf at Pimlico where ships from America docked and that the word Pimlico came with the trade and was the last word left alive of the Algonquin Indian language (Pamlico). More on Pamlico
Both his father and his grandfather were painters, but Sickert—after a good classical education—initially trained for a career on the stage, 1877–81. He toured with Sir Henry Irving's company but never progressed beyond small parts and in 1881 he abandoned acting and became a student at the Slade School. In the following year he became a pupil of Whistler, and in 1883 he worked in Paris with Degas.
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
The Façade of San Marco, Venice, c. 1896–1897
Oil on canvas
H 90 x W 120 cm
National Trust, Coleton Fishacre
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark, commonly known as St Mark's Basilica, is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. It lies at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace. Originally it was the chapel of the Doge, and has been the city's cathedral only since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, formerly at San Pietro di Castello. More on San Marco, Venice
The Piazzetta, Venice, c. 1898–1904
Oil on paper on canvas
H 52.1 x W 33.5 cm
York Art Gallery
Piazza San Marco, often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as la Piazza. The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an extension of the Piazza towards San Marco basin in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together. More on The Piazzetta
Venice, la Salute, c.1901
Oil on canvas
H 45.1 x W 69.2 cm
Tate
Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health), commonly known simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy.
In 1630, Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As a votive offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence, the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health (or of Deliverance, Italian: Salute). The church was designed in the then fashionable baroque style by Baldassare Longhena. Construction began in 1631. Most of the objects of art housed in the church bear references to the Black Death.
The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and the Venetian artist Francesco Guardi. More on Santa Maria della Salute
Santa Maria del Carmelo, Venice, c. 1895–1900
Oil on canvas
H 38.5 x W 45.5 cm
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Santa Maria dei Carmini, also called Santa Maria del Carmelo, is a large Roman Catholic church in the neighbourhood of Dorsoduro in Venice. This charitable confraternity was officially founded in 1597, and arose from a lay women's charitable association, the Pinzocchere dei Carmini. The members of this lay group were associated as tertiaries to the neighbouring Carmelite monastery. They were responsible for stitching the scapulars for the Carmelites.
The brick and marble facade contains sculpted lunettes by Giovanni Buora. Among the roofline decorations are images of Elisha and Elijah, thought to be founders of the Carmelite order. The bell tower, designed by Giuseppe Sardi, is topped by a statue of the Madonna del Carmine sculpted in 1982 as a replacement by Romano Vio. The previous original was destroyed by lightning. More on Santa Maria del Carmelo
This painting probably dates from one of Sickert's visits to Venice in the late 1890s.
Between 1885 and 1905 he spent much of his time in Dieppe, living there 1899–1905, and also visited Venice several times. From 1905, when he returned to England, he became the main channel for influence from avant-garde French painting in British art—inspiring a host of younger artists with the force of his personality as well as the quality of his work. The Allied Artists' Association (1908), the Camden Town Group (1911), and the London Group (1913) were all formed largely by artists in his circle. In 1918–22 he again lived in or near Dieppe, then settled permanently in England, living in London and Brighton before moving to Broadstairs, Kent (1934), and finally to Bathampton, near Bath (1938).
The rue Notre-Dame and the Quai Duquesne, Dieppe, c. 1899–1900
Oil on canvas
H 61.2 x W 50.8 cm
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
Sickert painted this subject many times in 1899–1900. This example shows a wide expanse of the Quai Duquesne in the foreground, with the rue Notre-Dame running at right angles towards the church of Notre Dame. More on this painting
The Café Suisse (Café des Arcades, Dieppe, France), c. 1914
Oil on canvas
H 53.3 x W 38.1 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries
Dieppe Harbour, c.1902
Ol on canvas
H 151.1 x W 61 cm
Glasgow Museums Resource Centre
Dieppe is a coastal community in the Normandy region of northern France.
A port on the English Channel, at the mouth of the Arques river with a regular ferry service to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled beach, a 15th-century castle and the churches of Saint-Jacques and Saint-Remi. The mouth of the river Scie lies at Hautot-sur-Mer, directly to the west of Dieppe. More on Dieppe
Dieppe Harbour, France, c.1885
Oil on wood
H 22.8 x W 35.6 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, Leeds Museums and Galleries
Sickert took the elements of his style from various sources but moulded them into a highly distinctive manner. From Whistler he derived his subtle modulations of tone, although his harmonies were more sombre and his touch rougher, using thick crusty paint. To Degas he was indebted particularly for his method of painting from photographs and for the informality of composition this encouraged. His favourite subjects were urban scenes and figure compositions, especially pictures of the theatre and music hall and drab domestic interiors.
Gallery Box at the New Bedford Music Hall, London, c. 1906–1907
Oil on canvas
H 69 x W 56.3 cm (E)
Museum of London
The Bedford Music Hall was built on part of the tea gardens, and opened on Monday the 16th of September 1861. The Music Hall was built for T. Thornton and although it had a capacity of 1,168 on three levels its main entrance was situated in a court that ran between the High Street and Arlington Road so was never ideal. The ERA reported on the Music Hall's opening in their 22nd of September 1861 edition saying:- 'This new place of Entertainment opened its doors to the public for the first time on Monday evening last, with a Company selected (with one or two exceptions) from the several London Music Halls. More on The Bedford Music Hall
Walter Richard Sickert 1860–1942
Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Isabella of France, c. 1932
Oil paint on canvas
2451 × 921 mm
Sickert loved the theatre and became a friend of the actress Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies after writing her a fan letter in 1932. This painting shows her in the role of Queen Isabella of France in Christopher Marlowe’s 16th-century play Edward II. The name ‘La Louve’ means ‘she-wolf’, a hostile title given to the historical Isabella. The production had taken place nine years earlier, and Sickert painted this picture from a small photograph, taken by Bertram Park, of the actress on stage. The painting was an immediate success and the Daily Mail described it as ‘Mr Sickert’s Best Work’. More on this painting
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
Variation on ‘Othello’, c.1933–1934
Oil on canvas
H 110 x W 73 cm
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery
'The full title of the painting as catalogued by the Leicester Galleries in 1934 identified Ira Aldridge as Othello, Valerie Tudor as Desdemona and Gastrolle as Cassio. These identifications suggest the painting was a 'Variation' of extraordinary perversity. Ira Aldridge was a black actor of the nineteenth century. Valerie Tudor was a contemporary actress, but Desdemona is not one of the many Shakespearian roles she is known to have played. 'Gastrolle' is the German word for an actor making a guest appearance. Walter Sickert's painting shows Cassio wounded, lying face down on stage: in this posture and in an imaginary painting he needed no identity. Thus the whole painting is a concoction.' Wendy Baron, 'Sickert, Paintings and Drawings' (2006). More on this painting
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
High-Steppers, c.1938–1939
Oil on canvas
H 132 x W 122.5 cm
National Galleries of Scotland, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
'High-Steppers' is probably Sickert's last painting to show a theatre scene. It is his third painting of the Plaza Tiller Girls, a dance troupe who performed at the Plaza cinema in Piccadilly, entertaining the audience before the start of the film. Although Sickert was a frequent visitor to the theatre, he never made any drawings or paintings there; instead, he preferred to work from press photographs. All three paintings of the Plaza Tiller Girls were based on a photograph which appeared in The Evening News in 1927. More on this painting
Sickert himself wrote in 1910 that ‘The more our art is serious, the more will it tend to avoid the drawing-room and stick to the kitchen.’ This attitude permeates his most famous painting, Ennui (See below), a compelling image of a stagnant marriage, of which he painted several versions, that in the Tate, London (c.1914), being the largest and most highly finished.
Walter Richard Sickert 1860–1942
Ennui, c.1914Oil on canvas
1524 × 1124 mm
Tate
The title of this painting means ‘boredom’ in French. Sickert suggests the strained relationship between the figures by their lack of communication. Despite being close together, the man and woman face in opposite directions, staring off into space. They appear almost trapped in their surroundings. The furnishings reinforce the theme, in particular the bell jar containing stuffed birds, suggesting a suffocating environment. Sickert’s works give us no moral or narrative certainty. He leaves it up to us to interpret the image. More on this painting
His later works—often based on press photographs or Victorian illustrations—are very broadly handled, with the canvas often showing through the paint in places. The colour is generally much higher keyed than in his earlier work and sometimes almost Expressionist in its boldness. The prevailing critical opinion for many years was that these late works marked a significant decline, but major claims have recently been made for them, particularly following the 1981 Arts Council exhibition ‘Late Sickert: Painting 1927 to 1942’.
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
Reclining Nude (Le lit de cuivre), c.1906
Oil on canvas
H 40.9 x W 50.9 cm
Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery
Le Lit de Cuivre translates to ‘copper bed’. There are several versions of this painting in existence. Sickert had begun to draw nudes on metal bedsteads in Dieppe in 1902 and on his return from Venice in 1904 he began to paint the subject. He continued to do so in London often working from drawings made in France eg. "Le Lit de Fer". In many of his post-Venetian paintings of the nude, Sickert broke away from a horizontal planar emphasis by placing the bed in a diagonal recession or even at right angles to the surface. This work shows how Sickert had begun to develop a broken, crusty touch in the paint work. More on this painting
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
Mornington Crescent Nude, c.1907
Oil on canvas
H 45.7 x W 50.8 cm
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Walter Richard Sickert (1860–1942)
Study for Mornington Crescent Nude, c.1907
Pen and ink, charcoal and chalk on paper
25.5 by 38.5cm.; 10 by 15in.
Private collection
Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A. 1860 - 1942
NUDE BEFORE A MIRROR, FITZROY STREET, c. 1906
Oil on canvas
38 by 30.5cm.; 15 by 12in.
Private collection
Walter Sickert’s paintings produced between 1905 and 1913 of the naked female form, set within the dingy interiors of several North London lodgings, are today recognized as amongst the most shocking, modern and innovative compositions of his oeuvre. Seeking to strip away the stagnant and outmoded artistic conventions which surrounded the female nude, the syrupy, idealistic and austere depictions that had risen to prominence in high art circles in the 19th Century, Sickert chose the nude as his vehicle to reaffirm his status as a leading proponent of the avant-garde. They became his subject of choice to stir up and revitalise what he felt was an artistic scene in London that had drifted into convention and stagnation during his time away in Europe in the previous years. More on this painting
As well as painting, Sickert was an outstanding etcher (he learnt the technique from Whistler) and a great teacher (he opened seven private art schools, each of brief duration, and also taught part-time at Westminster School of Art, 1908–12 and 1915–18). He was celebrated for his wit and charm and was a stimulating talker and an articulate writer on art; Osbert Sitwell edited a posthumous collection of his writings entitled A Free House! (1947). Sickert was married three times; his third wife (from 1926) was the painter Thérèse Lessore (1884–1945). His brother Bernard Sickert (1862/3–1932) was a landscape painter and etcher. He was a member of the New English Art Club.
Walter Richard Sickert
The Camden Town Murder or What Shall we do about the Rent? c. 1908
Oil on canvas
Yale Center for British Art
The Camden Town Murder (c1908) typifies the enigmatic and rather seedy subjects that Walter Sickert began to paint when he returned from several years living in France.
Walter Richard Sickert
What Shall We Do For Rent or The Camden Town Murder, 1909
Oil on canvas
Private collection
The murder of a part-time prostitute in a bedroom in Camden Town caused a sensation in September 1907. Walter Sickert made a number of paintings and drawings that alluded to the killing.
‘The Camden Town Murder’ is both the name of an event, christened in the newspapers, and the title of a painting – indeed the umbrella title for a series of images. What they have in common is a sifting of the formal and psychological possibilities available in the juxtaposition of a clothed man, with a naked woman on an iron bedstead, More on The Camden Town Murder
Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A 1860-1942
STUDY FOR MURDER OF EMILY DIMMOCK AT ST PAUL'S ROAD, CAMDEN TOWN
Pencil and black chalk heightened with white
29 by 24cm.; 11½ by 9½in.
Private collection
The present work is a sketch for Sickert's powerful L'Affaire de Camden Town (Private Collection), painted in 1909. Although there has been great debate about the degree to which Sickert drew on the facts of the murder of Emily Dimmock, who was found with her throat cut on 12 September 1907 in St Paul's Row, Camden Town, here the artist actually names the victim at the bottom of the sheet. Sickert produced a number of sketches for the painting but none of the others is known to name Emily Dimmock. More on this painting
Walter Richard Sickert
What Shall We Do For Rent or The Camden Town Murder, 1909
Oil on canvas
Private collection
Since the 1970s there have been several misguided attempts (in books and television programmes) to implicate Sickert in the Jack the Ripper murders that brought terror to the Whitechapel district of London in autumn 1888: apart from other considerations, Sickert was probably in France when most of the crimes were committed. More on Walter Richard Sickert
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