William Roberts, R.A.

The Leicester Galleries, London, where acquired by Wilfrid A. Evill January 1960 for £120.0.0, by whom bequeathed to Honor Frost in 1963

London, The Leicester Galleries, Second Exhibition of the London Artists' Association, November 1927, cat. no.41;
London, The Leicester Galleries, New Year Exhibition, January 1960, cat. no.69 (as The News);
London, The Home of Wilfrid A. Evill, Contemporary Art Society, Pictures, Drawings, Water Colours and Sculpture, April - May 1961, (part II- section 2) cat. no.12 (as The Family) (probably);
Brighton, Brighton Art Gallery, The Wilfrid Evill Memorial Exhibition, June - August 1965, cat. no.147 (as News);
London, Tate Gallery, William Roberts ARA Retrospective Exhibition, 20th November - 19th December 1965, cat. no.29, with Arts Council Tour to Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester;
Strasbourg, Musées de Strasbourg, Europe 1925, 14th May - 15th September 1970, cat. no.175; 
Pallant House Gallery, William Roberts: England at Play, 20th January - 20th March 2007.

William Roberts, Paintings and Drawings 1909-1964, Canale Publications, London, 1964, p.12 (as The News);
George Orwell, Inside the Whale and other Essays, Penguin Books, Harmandsworth, circa 1965, illustrated on the cover;
William Roberts Society Newsletter, March 2011 (unpaginated).

Original canvas. There is a faint craquelure pattern across parts of the paint surface, most noticeable to the table and also near the lower half of the right-hand edge. There is a small spot of paint loss on the chair just lower right of the man's elbow. The work has recently had a light clean and is in otherwise good overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals some small retouchings to the upper and lower right corners and to the spot of paint loss mentioned above. There appear to be old reworkings by the artist to the folds of the tablecloth, the man's hands and hair, and also about the head of the girl leaning over her sister. Held in a dark stained composition frame. Please contact the department on +44 (0)20 7293 6424 if you have any questions about the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

While painted in 1926 or 1927, the present work in many ways recalls Roberts' early style. The dynamic angular folds of the newspaper are especially reminiscent of his Vorticist paintings and drawings executed prior to the First World War, in which he had distilled a language of linear abstraction that allowed him to use grouped figure subjects as a purely formal vehicle. There is also a distinctly continental feel to the work, particularly in the objects presented as a still life upon the turned up table, and Roberts recalled that he 'became an abstract painter through the influence of the French Cubists. [This] influence was further strengthened by a stay in France and Italy during the summer of 1913' (quoted in Andrew Gibbon Williams, William Roberts, 2004, p.19).

Throughout his career, Roberts had an uneasy relationship with abstraction. While clearly influential to him early on, he was a steadfastly figurative painter and committed to the ideas of narrative and observation based in real life. Late in his career, Roberts relayed his dissatisfaction with what he viewed as the increasing predominance and espousal of abstraction at the expense of quality and meaning:

'It was after Cézanne, with the debut of Picasso, and the rise of Cubism that certain art chroniclers and critics began to hold forth against the picture with a story. Roger Fry and Clive Bell were especially critical of the story-telling painting. For them the important quality in a picture was its "Significant Form," ...But, as the canvas becomes empty of all subject matter, except that dabs, smudges, and trickles of the paint itself, interest shifts from the work to its producer.' (quoted in Ibid, pp.116-120)

It is not that Roberts rejected the stylistic elements of Cubism, but rather for him these elements should not come at the cost of the subject. His return to a more figurative manner of painting following the war gave him a great deal more scope to investigate human qualities using a style distinctly his own.

Newspapers perfectly demonstrates how he was able to combine the happy accidents derived from everyday observation with a meticulous compositional structure. Seated about the dining table a family peruses the evening papers, and discuss the news of the day. The father with his sleeves rolled up, one hand clutching the table edge and the other fist balled and raised, passionately espouses upon an article he has read. It is a scene of working class values, the close-knit family unit and righteous indignation over the changing world.

Roberts was often drawn to such working class subjects, possibly in part because of his own background. His father was a carpenter and his upbringing was humble. In his later years he often shied away from speaking of his family's roots, but he could recall the colourful events of his childhood with remarkable clarity. He remembered, for example, that in his neighbourhood of Hackney, 'Outside the pubs fights were frequent, and as blood and beer mingled, the children danced to the tunes of a wheezy barrel organ' (quoted in Andrew Heard, William Roberts (1895-1980), exh. cat., 2004, p.15).