William Roberts, R.A.

Mrs Berry, 1930;
Sotheby's, 6 April 1960, lot 132, where bought by Sir David Scott for £189

Sotheby's, Pictures from the Collection of Sir David and Lady Scott, 2008, pp. 180-181.

STRUCTURE Original canvas in good overall condition. PAINT SURFACE The paint surface is in good overall conditon. ULTRAVIOLET UV light reveals white fluorescence in the lower left and right quadrants which appears to be discoloured varnish. FRAME Held under glass in a gilded composition frame which has sustained some abrasions.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Park Bench is a fine example of the immediately recognisable style which Roberts developed between the wars, and its subject is one in which he found infinite variety throughout his career, that of demonstrating the simple joys of everyday events.

Associated with the avant-garde before the First World War, like his contemporaries Wyndham Lewis, Wadsworth and Bomberg, Roberts had distilled a language of linear abstraction that allowed him to use grouped figure subjects as a purely formal vehicle. Few of these survive, but a work such as Study for Two-Step II (British Museum) of 1915 shows how far Roberts had developed this process. However, the effects of the conflict on Roberts's generation of artists led virtually all of them towards a more figurative style. For Roberts, the return to figure painting gave him a great deal more scope to investigate the human qualities of his subjects, and paintings such as The Happy Family (Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth) of 1924 perfectly demonstrate how he was able to combine the happy accidents derived from everyday observation with a very meticulous compositional structure.

These outdoor subjects, often looking to his local neighbourhood for inspiration, have always been admired in Roberts' oeuvre, and when one looks more closely at The Park Bench, one can see why. The immediate sense of a haphazard cluster of figures in motion, looking this way and that, gives the painting an instant feeling of informality that the dress of the figures reinforces, even down to the nonchalantly balanced slipper dangled by the bearded figure to the right. This is not an image about the stiffness of Sunday-best, it is an image that glories in the rumbustiousness of family life. Roberts very carefully builds the sense of movement by ensuring that the composition never allows the viewer's eye to settle for long in one spot, forcing our gaze to zigzag through the group. Even when one finally emerges above the bearded figure (who, with the dog, is the only calm element in the painting), the path of the ball being kicked around in the background starts the cycle over again.

Sir David Scott bid unsuccessfully on a gouache study for The Park Bench when it appeared at auction at Sotheby's on 16 December 1964. He had gone against his usual rule of not submitting commission bids and was outbid.