William Patrick Roberts was born into a carpenter’s family in the London Hockney area; from an early age, he showed an outstanding talent for drawing. From the age of 14, he earned a living by making advertising posters; in the evenings, he studied at the St. Martin’s Art School.
1895 - 1980
William Patrick Roberts
description
English painter William Roberts, revered for his large, complex and colourful compositions that he exhibited annually since the 1950s at the opening hours of the Royal Academy, was at the beginning of his career among the pioneers of the English art avant-garde. A member of Fry’s studio “Omega” and Vorticism group of Wyndham Lewis, Roberst positioned himself as a Cubist and for most of his very long creative career worked outside the mainstream.
The artist, who had long served as the official military painter, was also elected a full member of the Royal Academy and awarded prizes. Roberts’ works are not only in the collection of his London House Museum, but are also widely represented at the prestigious Tate Modern Gallery and other English and American museums and galleries.
Key ideas:
– Making his first trip to France as a student, Roberts discovered such art movements as Post-Impressionism and Cubism. Both of these styles had a significant influence on the beginning artist, and he used their technics in his art throughout his long creative career.
– Having joined first the Omega workshop, and then the group of Vorticists headed by W. Lewis, the artist came to a more angularly aggressive style in painting, which corresponded to the trends that covered Europe in the pre-war period.
– His official position of a military artist and participation in the hostilities of the First World War determined the theme of Roberts’ works in the second half of the 1910s.
– “Shaking off” some dogmas of Vorticism, the artist developed his recognizable style of English cubism. The subject of his attention was urban life in London, including stories from the racetrack. The Tate Gallery started buying his works of this particular post-war period.
– In the 1930s, Roberts began to prefer a more rounded shape and a more sculptural approach to the depiction of objects to the angular style he used in his previous works. Many compositions acquired a great sound (“Masks”, “Playground”).
– In later works by Roberts, the emphasis on the importance of working out the drawing and the harmony of the composition, which he learned at the Slade School, was clearly seen. In the 1950s, when British art was abstract, the master’s works exhibited annually at the Royal Academy became a sensation – they impressed viewers with their scale, the drama of the plots (The Temptation of St. Anthony) and bold colour schemes.
1895
1910
1913
1914
1916
1918
1923
1948
1956
1961
1965
1974
1980
William Patrick Roberts was born
Entered the Slade School of Art
Entered the Slade School of Art, where he met future prominent artists D. Bomberg, S. Spencer, D. Carrington, M. Gertler and K. Nevinson. The school’s emphasis on the importance of assimilating hard canons and structuring the composition was beneficial to the artist when he moved from the avant-garde to his monumental style.
He made a trip to France and Italy
After graduating from Slade’s school with brilliant successes, he made a trip to France and Italy, during which he became acquainted with the ideas and work of Fauvists and Cubists. Returning to London, he visited the design studio of R. Fry “Omega Workshops”, where he did paid work.
He supported the creation of a new art movement - Vorticism
Having made friends with poet E. Pound and artist W. Lewis, he supported the creation of a new art movement – Vorticism, signing the Vorticist Manifesto, which appeared in the first issue of “BLAST” magazine. At the same time, the artist himself referred his work to Cubism. The following year, he exhibited his Cubist works with the London group.
He fought as an artilleryman on the fronts of the First World War
He fought as an artilleryman on the fronts of the First World War. At that time, two of his large-scale oil paintings were shown at the Vorticist exhibition at the Penguin Gallery in New York. Influential collector J. Quinn purchased them.
Returned to London as an official martial artist
Returned to London as an official martial artist. However, he had to fulfill the condition not to paint in the style of cubism. The result of this commission was such significant expressionist canvases as “The First German Gas Attack in Ypres” and others, as well as 12 watercolours based on his impressions of participation in the hostilities. Critics characterize them as competing in their bitterness with famous works of German masters Otto Dix and J. Gross.
The artist’s first solo exhibition
The artist’s first solo exhibition was held at the Chenil Gallery in London, after which the Society of Modern Art bought a few of his paintings for various galleries of Great Britain. By that time, the artist had already been married for a year to the sister of his schoolmate F. Slade, Sarah Kramer, who then was his muse and model for nearly 60 years.
Presented a self-portrait and a portrait of Sarah
Presented a self-portrait and a portrait of Sarah in a gypsy shawl at the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition. From that year, the artist participated in these vernissages; his art grew in popularity year by year.
"Some Early Abstract and Cubist Works of 1913-1920"
The London Tate Modern Gallery organized an exhibition entitled “Wyndham Lewis and Vorticism”, in which Roberts’ works were also exhibited. The artist was offended by the fact that the catalog “made ignorant people assume that the “other Vorticists somehow obeyed W. Lewis”, and published a series of condemning articles. The following year, he published the brochure “Some Early Abstract and Cubist Works of 1913-1920”.
Received the K. Gulbenkian Foundation Prize
Received the K. Gulbenkian Foundation Prize with the wording “for his artistic achievements and serving British art”. He began working on his painting “Vorticists in the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, spring 1915”, completed it the very next year.
The British Council of the Arts in the Tate Gallery organized a large retrospective exhibition of the artist
The British Council of the Arts in the Tate Gallery organized a large retrospective exhibition of the artist; a small version of it was also shown in Newcastle and Manchester. The following year he was elected a member of the Royal Academy.
The exhibition of the Council of the Arts “Worcitism and its Allies” was held
The exhibition of the Council of the Arts “Worcitism and its Allies” was held; the vital role of Roberts as one of the leading members of the group was denoted there. In the last decade, while still actively working on various topics, Roberts was obsessed with the self-portrait genre; the National Portrait Gallery acquired and first exhibited a number of these works in 1984.
The death of the artist
William Patrick Roberts died on January 20 in 1980 in London, the UK.