A rare display of Walter Sickert's prints and sketches as private collection goes on show

"Walter Sickert was a German-born British painter and printmaker who was a member of the Camden Town Group, a Post-Impressionist art movement in early 20th-century London. Many of his works are in leading galleries, but what the Lucases collected were often the preparatory sketches or his prints, which offer a new way of seeing how the artist composed his famous paintings."

"The result is an intimate yet comprehensive portrait of an artist who has long resisted easy classification. The centrepiece of the exhibition is the Lucas version of Ennui, one of five iterations of Sickert's celebrated meditation on the tedium of marital life. There's also a good collection of sketches that were drawn for printmakers to sell, and the artist often worked closely with the printers to ensure his drawings could be translated into the printer's press without losing details."

The collection was assembled by American art collectors Herbert and Ann Lucas and is being offered for sale by their estate while remaining on view in London. The holdings emphasize preparatory sketches, prints and drawings rather than finished trophy paintings, revealing Sickert's working methods and compositional evolution. The Lucases concentrated on his roles as draftsman, printmaker and chronicler of urban melancholy and everyday theatre. The centrepiece is the Lucas version of Ennui, one of five iterations examining marital tedium. Visitors receive a note sheet to aid recognition. A notable group of print-related sketches demonstrates Sickert's close collaboration with printers. Additional Dieppe landscapes occupy the lower gallery.

Read at ianVisits