AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Evening in Oban

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.

Evening in Oban, 1946–7
Pen, ink and watercolour, 35.5 cm x 25.5 cm

This was is of a series of four drawings inspired by a visit that William and Sarah Roberts made to the Outer Hebrides. The trip was likely to have been planned with Sarah's friend Victoria Kingsley, a collector of international folk music, who had become interested in Hebridean songs and spent some time on Barra learning Gaelic.
PROVENANCE: Leicester Galleries > Miss H. Grant (20 gns) > Sotheby's 5 May 1987 > Bonhams 26 Sept. 2007 (£10,200)> ? > Bonhams 14 Nov. 2012 (estimate £20,000–£30,000; unsold); Christie's, South Kensington, 19 Mar. 2015 (estimate £15,000–£25,000; unsold)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Leicester Galleries (3) 1949 (sold for 20 gns)
Cf. Crossing the Minch, Gateway to the Western Isles and Graveyard at Barra