Tomorrow sees the opening of the Tate’s first major retrospective of Walter Sickert’s work in over sixty years. The artist, who’s work spanned from the late Victorian period to his death in 1942, revolutionised British art. Sickert was the first recognised artist to break away from the painterly styles and the appealing subject matter of the fashionable Impressionists, who chose to paint en plein air. Whilst accompanying his tutor Whistler along the banks of the Thames as his master painted his Nocturnes, Sickert was drawn to the evening life of ordinary Londoners who he would sketch, creating a catalogue of inspiration for him to work from back at his studio (he first had a studio in Camden Town, then re-located to Fitzroy Street). Known for his series of music hall works, Sickert also captured the macabre with his group of four Camden Town Murder paintings. Travelling to Dieppe and Venice, he also produced the most breath-taking architectural studies. In later life, his fascination with press photography inspired his depictions of public figures and events.
We highly recommend this important exhibition to anyone who is interested in art history, social history and the history of Victorian crime in London.
Photo credit: 9 Hertford Street (image of book Sickert by Wendy Baron and Richard Shone)