AN ENGLISH CUBIST

WILLIAM ROBERTS:

Spanish Rhythm

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.

Spanish Rhythm (aka Spanish Gypsies and Spanish Dancers), 1946–9
Oil on canvas, 56 cm x 66.5 cm

This has generally been dated to 1937 – e.g in the Tate Gallery 1965 catalogue – but it seems unlikely that a work executed then would not have been exhibited before 1949, in Roberts's solo London exhibitions in 1938 and 1942, say. It has therefore been assumed that it is a later work, perhaps prompted by a post-war trip to Spain or a visit to London by a Spanish dance company.
PROVENANCE: Redfern Gallery > Leicester Galleries > Wilfrid Evill (Oct. 1949, £75) > Miss Honor Frost (1963) > Sotheby's 16 June 2011 (£91,250)
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Leicester Galleries (3) 1949 (sold for 75 gns), Tate Gallery 1952, Whitechapel Gallery 1952, Contemporary Art Society 1961, Brighton 1965, Tate Gallery 1965
Cf. Spanish Dancers 1935