AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Dominoes

Illustration © The Estate of John David Roberts. Reproduced with the permission of the William Roberts Society. Catalogue information based on the catalogue raisonné by David Cleall. For this and full details of the exhibitions cited, see the links below. Any auction prices quoted may not include all fees and taxes, such as VAT and Artist's Resale Right charges.

Dominoes (study for Jeu, aka The Draughts Players), c.1915
Pencil and ink, 19.0 cm x 16.0 cm

Roberts suggests this study 'could be a rough draft for one of those lost pictures, that was named in the [1915] Grosvenor Gallery catalogue as "Le Jeu"' (Roberts, 8 Cubist Designs (1969), where he appears to be misremembering the location of 'Vorticist Exhibition. The Vorticist Group: The First Exhibition of the Vorticist Group', which was held at the Doré Gallery in June–July 1915). Though it is inscribed with the title 'Dominoes', the players are clearly playing a board game.
PROVENANCE: Sotheby’s 11 Dec. 1968 > Anthony d'Offay Gallery > ? > Hamet Gallery > private collection (8 Jan. 1973) > Bonhams 13 June 2018 (£12,500)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Anthony d'Offay Gallery (1) 1969, Hamet Gallery 1971, Hayward Gallery 1974