William RobertsThe Cinema 1920

Before the First World War, Roberts made abstract paintings like his fellow Vorticists such as Wyndham Lewis. After the war, he produced a series of scenes of urban popular entertainment, such as this view of the inside of a cinema.Originally called The Silent Screen, it is like an updated version of the views of music hall performances painted by the French Impressionists and British artists like Walter Sickert. There is, perhaps, something significant in the contrast between the rich colouring of the audience and the monochrome, silent action on the screen that seems to hold them enthralled.