Carel Weight, R.A.

Panter and Hall, London
Sale, Christie's London, 27th November 1997, lot 229
Sale, Sotheby's London, 2nd June 2004, lot 79, where purchased by the present owner

(Possibly) London, Royal Academy, Summer Exhibition, 1952, cat. no.698 (as The Crossing);
London, Austin Desmond Fine Art, Aspects of Modern British Art 1910-1965, 25th November - 23rd December 1998, un-numbered exhibition, illustrated;
London, Royal College of Art (details untraced).

'One of the things I like is to take a subject which is rather corny and to try and make something of it… A London street, for example' (the Artist in an interview with Norman Rosenthal, October 1981). In this characteristically self-deprecatory statement, Weight acknowledges both his most inspirational subject matter and his own unique artistic approach. The artist once recalled that even as a seven-year old his class would entreat him to recount ‘one of his stories’, and the inclination to work from his imagination rather than models solidified during his training at art school in Hammersmith and at Goldsmith’s. The title of the present work may suggest a quotidian mundane act but, in what has been called Weight’s 'mastery of the non-event' (Carel
Weight: A War Retrospective, Imperial War Museum, 29 June – 8 October 1995, p.11) his treatment of the scene imbues it with far more significance. 

Weight’s essential artistic goal – that the emotions of an 'ordinary chap' should be stimulated by a painting – is masterfully achieved through the particular observation of places, overlaid with invented characters and heightened drama or tension. Unlike the locations he visited as an itinerant war artist, where he might have had as little as three days to accustom himself to the surroundings, West Brompton lies in the heart of southwest London where Weight spent the majority of his working life and produced some of his most creative work.

As in dreams, when a familiar setting may provide the context for extraordinary events, Weight’s seemingly recognisable suburban narratives waver precipitously on the edge of mystery. Here, the lowering crimson-streaked sky, reminiscent of many of his wartime pictures such as Escape of the Zebra from the Zoo during an Air Raid, 1941 (Manchester City Galleries), adds a certain menace to the scene, suggestive of an imminent storm or a more uncanny occurrence. Details such as the juxtaposition of the driver’s expressionless face with that of an inane clown in one of the posters take on the kind of acuity we also experience in dreams.

Crossing the road is transformed into a moment full of possibility – a vertiginous confluence of past and future. Weight’s accomplished use of geometry pitches the figures at varying diagonals, drawing attention to the physical relation between these parallel yet dislocated lives. The truncated group in the foreground and the boy half turned on the crossing are typical of Weight’s work, where figures seem pursued or drawn together by a
sense of urgency. Conversely, the man walking with a stick has a markedly slower gait, tilting towards the opposite corner of the composition inviting us to speculate on the forward trajectory of the horse and cart.