 |
| Lady Edna Clarke Hall Still Life of a Basket on a Chair 1900 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"Edna Clarke Hall, née Waugh (1879-1979) was one of the star pupils of the Slade School of Art. The training stressed the importance of vigorous drawing, and Hall was known primarily for graphic work, particularly her illustrations to Wuthering Heights. She also wrote poetry. This is probably the artist's only oil painting and was made under the direction of Gwen John."
 |
| William Orpen The Mirror 1900 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"The sitter in this portrait is Emily Scoble, a model from the Slade School of Art. Orpen was briefly engaged to her. The room is apparently an accurate portrayal of Orpen's lodgings, but the shallow pictorial depth and decorative or 'aesthetic' arrangement of objects is based on Whistler's famous portrait of his mother in profile. The circular mirror on the wall reflects the artist painting at his easel. This is a device which Orpen borrowed from Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Portrait of 1434, which he would have seen on display at the National Gallery."
 |
| Walter Sickert Venice, la Salute ca. 1901 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Pablo Picasso Flowers 1901 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"This was the first work by Pablo Picasso to be bought by the Tate Gallery. It was acquired in 1933 with the help of the Contemporary Art Society, a fund established in 1910 to help public museums and galleries buy important works of art. This surprising flower painting by Picasso reveals a lot about the tastes of the Tate Gallery Trustees in the early twentieth century. In 1933 Picasso was already an established avant-garde artist, but the decision to buy this conservative early work shows that the Trustees were resisting the more radical developments of modern art."
 |
| Beatrix Potter Mice Stitching Buttonholes (illustration for The Tailor of Gloucester) ca. 1902 watercolor, gouache Tate Gallery |
"The Tailor of Gloucester was Beatrix Potter's second book, and her favourite. The illustrations were drawn in Gloucester and the country round about, the story being based on an actual Gloucestershire story that she heard while staying with a cousin near Stroud. The fabrics in the watercolours are said to have been taken from fabrics in the Victoria & Albert Museum."
 |
| Beatrix Potter No more Twist (illustration for The Tailor of Gloucester) ca. 1902 watercolor, gouache Tate Gallery |
 |
| Vilhelm Hammershøi Interior, Sunlight on the Floor 1906 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Walter Sickert Woman Washing her Hair 1906 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"Sickert was committed to painting everyday life, and here he shows the woman in circumstances in which she might naturally be naked. This sets her apart from the artistic tradition of female nudes, which were conventionally shown inactive and with little context. Sickert learnt much from Degas, including such 'through the key hole' views. This is one of a series of nudes Sickert painted in his studio in Paris in autumn 1906."
 |
| Pierre Bonnard In the Bathroom 1907 oil on panel Tate Gallery |
"Bonnard's model for In the Bathroom was Marthe de Méligny, formerly Maria Boursin (1869-1942) who was the artist's companion from 1893 until her death. The couple would marry in 1925. Bonnard painted Marthe over 300 times during the course of his career and frequently portrayed her in the process of washing, dressing, undressing or reading."
 |
| Harold Gilman Edwardian Interior ca. 1907 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
 |
| Leonard Campbell Taylor The Rehearsal 1907 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"The figures are shown grouped around the Broadwood piano that was used by Chopin during his recitals in London in 1848. The model who posed as the seated violinist was Monsieur Beguinot, a famous Soho restaurateur. The cellist was a repairing tailor whom the artist found standing on the kerb at the Cornmarket, Oxford. Professional models were used for the figures of the man standing on the left and the girl seated at the piano; the second girl was the daughter of a Surrey farmer."
 |
| Henri Matisse Standing Nude 1907 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"The simplified, angular planes and exaggerated features of this nude suggest the influence of carved figures. Matisse's interest in African art began around 1906, and is probably reflected in this painting. Based on a photograph rather than a model, it subverts the tradition of the academic studio nude. The austere colors are a departure from the brightness of Matisse's earlier Fauvist period."
 |
| James Pryde The Doctor ca. 1909 oil on canvas Tate Gallery |
"This is the first of a series of pictures Pryde entitled The Human Comedy. Each painting is dominated by a four-poster bed, based on Pryde's childhood memory of the magnificent bed in Mary Queen of Scots' bedroom at Holyrood Palace. The dramatic shadows and macabre aura of expectancy in The Doctor function like a scene in a play; indeed, Pryde was a set and poster designer in the theatre."
 |
| Lawrence Alma-Tadema A Favourite Custom 1909 oil on panel Tate Gallery |
"The scene is set in the baths at Pompeii. In the foreground one woman playfully splashes another bathing in the frigidarium, a cold bath. The artist based this work on photographs of the ruins of the Stabian baths, revealed by archaeologists in 1824. He has made them more luxurious by adding a marble floor and walls which would more usually have been found in large imperial baths. This small work attracted enormous success when it was exhibited and was bought immediately for the nation."
– quoted passages based on notes by curators at the Tate in London