The Dance Club (The Jazz Party)

Mediums: oil, canvas.
Location: Leeds Museums and Galleries (the UK).

After the war, W. Roberts, like other artists who took part in the hostilities, showed particular interest in depicting people that found fun in civilian life. The scene “Dance Club” (its second name is “Jazz Party”) reflects his contemporaries’ passion for a whirlwind of dance. The master showed the composition, multi-figured and bright in colour, in the “top and side view” perspective, which is why the figures of the dancers are not only elongated but also tilted. The emotional component is distinct. Still, Roberts somewhat leveled the enthusiasm by the figure of a yawning man, according to many, this is Jacob Kramer, a friend of the author of the picture whose sister he married one year before the creation of this canvas.