Walter Richard Sickert

(England 1860–1942)

Title

Katie Lawrence at Gatti's

Other titles:

Gatti's Hungerford Palace of Varieties: second turn of Katie Lawrence
Second turn of Katie Lawrence at Gatti's Hungerford Varieties; Tom Tinsley in the Chair

Year

circa 1903

Media category

Painting

Materials used

oil on canvas mounted on hardboard

Dimensions

84.4 x 99.3cm board; 103.2 x 117.5 x 7.5cm frame

Signature & date

Signed l.r., black oil "Sickert". Not dated.

Credit

Watson Bequest Fund 1946

Accession number

7772

Copyright

Location

19th & 20th c European art

Further information

Born in Munich of Danish parents, Walter Sickert came to England as a child in 1868. Taught by Whistler and inspired by Degas, whom he knew, he became one of the most influential and prolific British painters of his period. Experimenting with late impressionist and post-impressionist idioms, Sickert forged a personal practice devoted almost entirely to depictions of metropolitan life, some of them squalid. He settled permanently in London in 1905, from which time his studio served as a nerve-centre for the younger 'realist' painters of the Camden Town Group. Sickert's love of urban types, bohemia and the world of variety theatre is apparent in this atmospheric canvas. Katie Lawrence was a knockabout songstress who frequently headlined at Gatti's venue. Despite Sickert's interest in working-class themes his art is far from populist, appealing as it does to sophisticated taste. Daringly, the painter portrays Lawrence as little more than a footlit smudge.

AGNSW Handbook, 1999.

Provenance (3)

Arthur Tooth & Sons Ltd (England), London/England, Purchased by the AGNSW from Arthur Tooth & Sons 1946

Mrs J.B. Priestley (England), England, possibly Mary ('Jane') Wyndham Lewis, 2nd wife of J.B. (John Boynton) Priestley (1894-1984)

Messrs Wallace (England), England, by 1933, lent to Retrospective exhibition of pictures by W.R. Sickert, A.R.A. at Agnew's 1933, cat.no.33

Bibliography (25)

Wendy Baron (England) (Author), Sickert: paintings and drawings, 2006, 41, 136, 329 (illus.). cat.no.279

Kenneth McConkey (Author), The New English: a history of the New English Art Club, 2006, 47-48, 47 (colour illus.), 51. fig.22

'Walter Sickert at Gatti's: new technical evidence' by Paula Dredge and Richard Beresford, pg. 264-69; 'Some newly discovered sketches by Walter Sickert of Gatti's Hungerford Palace of Varieties' by Anna Greuzner Robins, pg. 269-72, The Burlington Magazine Apr 2006, Apr 2006, 265 (colour illus.), 266 (illus.), 268 (illus.), 269, 272. illustration on pg. 268 is a photograph under ultraviolet light and pg. 266 an x-ray

Anna Gruetzner Robins (Author), Richard Thomson (Author), Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec London and Paris 1870-1910, 2005, 66, 68, 69 (colour illus.), 72. cat.no. 25

Margaret Olley (Australia, b.1923, d.2011) (Author), Barry Humphries (Australia, b.1934) (Author), Deborah Hart (South Africa; United Kingdom; Australia, b.1959) (Director), Christine France (Australia) (Co-ordinator), Favourites: Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries choose from public and private collections, Sydney, 2000. Catalogue entry appears in inserted list to printed catalogue: Selections by Barry Humphries

Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 50 (colour illus.).

Roger Hudson (England) (Author), London Portrait of a City, London, 1998, 221 (colour illus.).

Peter Tomory (United Kingdom) (Author), Anne Kirker (New Zealand; Australia, b.1947) (Author), British painting 1800-1990 in Australian and New Zealand public collections, Sydney, 1997, 157 (illus.). cat.no. 1967

Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 158 (colour illus.), 159.

Wendy Baron (England) (Editor), Richard Shone (United Kingdom) (Editor), Sickert Paintings, Unknown, 1992, 70, 71 (colour illus.). cat.no. 6

Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (England) (Author), The Dieppe Connection. The town and its artists from Turner to Braque, 1992. fig.12

Norma Broude (Editor), World Impressionism: the International Movement, 1860-1920, 1990, 174 (illus.). plate no. 80

Anthony Baker (Author), Marie LLoyd: Queen of the Music-halls, London, 1990, cover (colour illus.).

Annabel Davie (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales Handbook, Domain, 1988, 55.

Renée Free (Australia) (Author), Art Gallery of New South Wales catalogue of British paintings, Sydney, 1987, 174 (illus.).

Wendy Baron (England) (Author), Sickert, London, 1973, 27-28 (illus.). cat.no. 42, fig.no. 28

Editor Unknown (Editor), Art Gallery of New South Wales picturebook, Domain, 1972, 40 (colour illus.).

Author Unknown, Fifth Adelaide Festival of Arts 1968: Special exhibitions at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Unknown, 1968, 6. cat.no. 4

'Walter Richard Sickert 1860-1942' by Robert Haines, pg.423-7; 'Some problems of dating and identification' by Daniel Thomas, pg.431-2, Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterley Oct 1968, Oct 1968, 426, 427 (illus.), 231-232.

Anthony Bertram (United Kingdom, b.1897, d.1978) (Author), Sickert, 1955, (illus.). pl.3

Queensland Art Gallery (Australia, estab. 1895) (Author), Epstein and Sickert, 1954.

Lillian Browse (Editor), Sickert, London, 1943, (illus.). pl. 3

Agnew's, London (England, estab. 1817) (Author), Retrospective exhibition of pictures by W.R. Sickert, A.R.A., 1933. cat.no. 26

Beaux Arts Gallery (England) (Author), Paintings by Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A., 1933. cat.no. 15

The Leicester Galleries (England) (Author), Retrospective exhibition of paintings and drawings by Richard Sickert A.R.A.,P.R.B.A., 1929. possibly in this exhibition, cat.no.77, as Gatti's Arches, Katie Lawrence

Exhibition history (10)

Retrospective exhibition of paintings and drawings by Richard Sickert A.R.A., P.R.B.A., The Leicester Galleries, 1929–1929.

Paintings by Walter Richard Sickert, A.R.A., Beaux Arts Gallery, Jul 1933–Jul 1933.

Retrospective exhibition of by W.R. Sickert, A.R.A., Agnew's, London, Nov 1933–Dec 1933.

Epstein and Sickert, Queensland Art Gallery, 14 May 1954–14 Jun 1954.

Walter Richard Sickert: Adelaide Festival of Arts 1968, Art Gallery of South Australia, 07 Mar 1968–23 Mar 1968.

Sickert Paintings, Royal Academy of Arts, 20 Nov 1992–14 Feb 1993.

Sickert Paintings, Van Gogh Museum, 25 Feb 1993–31 May 1993.

Favourites: Margaret Olley and Barry Humphries choose from Australian collections (2000), S.H. Ervin Gallery, 15 Jan 2000–27 Feb 2000.

Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec, Tate Britain, 06 Oct 2005–15 Jan 2006.

Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec, The Phillips Collection, 18 Feb 2006–14 May 2006.