Walter Richard Sickert
1860–1942
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Unlike the majority of the Camden Town Group, Walter Richard Sickert (figs.1 and 2) was recognised during his own lifetime as an important artist, and in the years since his death has increasingly gained a reputation as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century British art. He was universally acknowledged throughout his life as a colourful, charming and fascinating character, a catalyst for progress and modernity, yet someone who remained independent of groups, cliques and categories. As a younger man he was widely reported to be an entertaining and skilled raconteur, popular within cultural and social circles and friendly with numerous famous personalities of the era. In his old age he cultivated his many eccentric habits and courted a level of celebrity, frequently appearing in the newspapers for having changed his appearance, his name, or for his latest controversial painting stunt. His art, like his personality, is multifaceted, complex and compelling.
Sickert was a cosmopolitan figure. The eldest of six children, he was born in Munich on 31 May 1860 to a Danish father (with German nationality) and an Anglo-Irish mother. His early years were spent in Germany, but in 1868 the family moved to England. London remained his principal home for the rest of his life, although he also lived for periods in France and Italy. He spoke fluent English, German and French, and had a good command of Italian. His father, Oswald Adalbert Sickert, was a painter and woodcut illustrator for a comic paper, the Fliegende Blätter, and although his young son received no early formal training, art and culture formed an integral part of his upbringing. His schooling was undertaken in a variety of establishments including the King’s College School, London.
Notes
Wikipedia entry
Walter Richard Sickert (31 May 1860 – 22 January 1942) was a British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group in London. He was an important influence on distinctively British styles of avant-garde art in the 20th century.
Sickert was a cosmopolitan and eccentric who often favoured ordinary people and urban scenes as his subjects. His work also included portraits of well-known personalities and images derived from press photographs. He is considered a prominent figure in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism.
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Read full Wikipedia entryArtworks
Walter Richard Sickert Ennui
c.1914
Artist as subject
Ethel Sands Tea with Sickert
c.1911–12
J. Leger & Son (London, UK) J. Leger & Son exhibition catalogue titled ‘Exhibition of Modern Paintings’
1944
Walter Richard Sickert, recipient: Ethel Sands Letter from Walter Sickert, addressed Dieppe
date not known
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Re-Viewing the Camden Town Group – Part 1
Audio recording of the Tate Britain, Modern Painters symposium dedicated to the Camden Town Group and the Moderen Painters exhibition.
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Metropolis and Modernity: Modern Painters Study Day
To coincide with Modern Painters: The Camden Town Group, this study day examines the Camden Town Group in the context ...
Watch
Camden Town: Michael Palin in Conversation with Tim Marlow
Actor, writer and traveller Michael Palin and art historian Tim Marlow discuss their continuing fascination with the Camden Town Group.
Features
Art Term
British impressionism
British impressionism describes the work of artists working in Britain in the late nineteenth-century who were influenced by the ideas ...
Art Term
Camden Town Group
The Camden Town Group were a British post-impressionist group founded by Walter Sickert in London in 1911
Art Term
Genre painting
The term genre painting refers to paintings which depict scenes of everyday life
Art Term
New English Art Club
The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1886 as an exhibiting society by artists influenced by ...
Tate Etc
Sickert and Photography
Rebecca Daniels on how Walter Sickert deftly combined art history and photography in his paintings
Blog
Archives & Access Project: Cracked looking-glass of a servant: Ireland and ‘quite Irish’ art in Tate Archive
Tate Britain is the National Gallery of British Art, with a remit to collect British works of art from around ...
Read
Forgotten Faces
Forgotten Faces comprises seventeen portraits or figure paintings and three sculptures ranging between 1896 – a year before the foundation of ...
Tate Etc
Walter Richard Sickert's Miss Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies as Isabella of France 1932
Tate Britain Rehang
Tate Etc
Family colours: Robert Bevan and the Camden Town Group
Tate's online research project, The Camden Town Group in Context, brings together much new material on the artists in ...
Blog
Works of the week: A Favourite Custom by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and La Hollandaise by Walter Sickert
As a new chronological display of Tate Britain’s permanent collection is unveiled this week, Penelope Curtis, Director of Tate ...
Sketches, letters, etc.
Walter Richard Sickert, recipient: Ethel Sands Letter from Walter Sickert, addressed Dieppe
date not known
Walter Richard Sickert, recipient: Ethel Sands Letter from Walter Sickert to Ethel Sands, addressed Hôtel du Commerce, Dieppe
[August 1914]
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