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  • Letters, drawings and a sketchbook from John Banting to Humphrey Spender
  • Sketchbook by John Banting

John Banting

Sketchbook by John Banting

[c.1936–7]

Front cover

Created by
John Banting 1902–1971
Date
[c.1936–7]
Dimensions
181 × 115 mm
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© Estate of John Banting. All Rights Reserved 2023 / Bridgeman Images

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Created by
John Banting 1902–1971
Title
Sketchbook by John Banting
Date
[c.1936–7]
Format
Bound volume - sketchbook
Collection
Tate Archive
Acquisition
This collection was presented to the Tate Archive by Humphrey Spender in 1997.
Reference
TGA 9717/2

Description

Bound sketchbook with red fabric hard cover, enclosing 140 sheets of laid paper, 187 × 132 × 30 mm.

This sketchbook by John Banting is dated in the inside front cover 'August 1936', with his address, '33 Roehampton Lane, SW 15'.

It contains studies of organic forms such as flowers, plants and shells, experiments in colour and mark-making, and examples of surrealist techniques such as frottage and 'exquisite corpse' as well as John Banting's own form inventions. Some notes are included towards the end of the sketchbook, mostly listing plant varieties. There is also a page brainstorming adjectives around the title 'Interiors Passportraitposters'. Some surrealist figures and subjects appear which are similar to those in Banting's print series, 'For Social Service' (c 1933-1935), which was later published as 'A Blue Book of Conversation' (1946). Some patterns also appear which are similar to woodblocks by Banting in the Tate collection, which also date from the 1930s.

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Archive context

  • Letters, drawings and a sketchbook from John Banting to Humphrey Spender TGA 9717 (36)
    • Sketchbook by John Banting TGA 9717/2
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