1) Ghetto Theatre; 2) The Family, Ghetto Theatre; 3) Sappers under Hill 60

David Bomberg (1890 - 1957)

Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art

1919

Ghetto Theatre and The Family, Ghetto Theatre form part of the preparatory work for the painting Ghetto Theatre, which is one of the most significant works in the Ben Uri Collection. They depict a joyless East-End Jewish theatre audience, whose drab clothes and mask-like faces express not only their disenchantment, but Bomberg's own dismal, post-war vision. Sappers under Hill 60 is part of a series of works relating to Bomberg's commissioned work for the Canadian War Records Office. The drawings show British sappers at work building tunnels and trenches which eventually resulted in the successful mine attack on a German observation post at St Eloi in March 1916. All three drawings show the artist moving away from the fractured, mechanised style of his pre-war modernist work, towards a more human response.

• Medium: pencil, ink & wash
• Dimensions: 1) 25.4 x 19.1cm; 2) 25.4 x 19.7cm; 3) 12.1 x 15.9cm
• Art Fund Grant: £3803 ( Total: £7,115)
• ArtFunded in: 2010
• Vendor: Christie's

Provenance

1-2) Gillian and Jason Gallery, London; private collection, 1987. 3) Boundary Gallery, London; private collection, 1987. These works have been vetted by the Art Loss Register.

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