David Bomberg

Study for Two Figures in a Composition

c.1919–20

Not on display

Artist: David Bomberg 1890–1957
Medium: Graphite and gouache on paper
Dimensions: Support: 311 × 203 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented in memory of the artist by Mr and Mrs J. Newmark through the Contemporary Art Society 1981
Reference: T03261

Catalogue entry

T03261 STUDY FOR TWO FIGURES IN A COMPOSITION c.1919–21

Not inscribed
Pencil and gouache on paper, 12 1/2 × 8 (31.2 × 20.2)
Presented in memory of David Bomberg by Mr and Mrs J. Newmark through the CAS1981
Prov: Mrs Lilian Bomberg

T03261 and T03262 are studies for the same part of a composition of figures, and the pencil drawing is the same in each, except that T03261 has an additional figure on the left-hand side. The drawings appear as ‘Dancing Figures, before 1910’ in the list of the 28 paintings and drawings by Bomberg given to the Contemporary Art Society by Mr and Mrs J. Newmark. However, neither of them is dated, and they are similar in style to some of his drawings of 1919–21, particularly the studies of families on a canal barge (such as the watercolour dated 1921 reproduced in the catalogue of the Art in the City exhibition at the Maclean Gallery in November 1981, no.3). The pose of the figure on the right, with curiously turned out feet, resembles that of the woman in the oil study for ‘At the Window’ (1919).

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1980-82: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1984