Howard Jacobson TV - James Fox TV - Tim Marlow TV - Tate online -
The Edwardian painter Walter Sickert relocated sex to the actual unmade bedsits of Camden Town. Howard Jacobson, The Genius of British Art: Flesh, Channel 4 2010
The Camden Town Murder ... One painter dared to shock the whole country and paint it: Mornington Crescent Nude. That painter was Walter Sickert ... The twisted neck ... The killer is still in the room ... You are the person in the room. You are the client. You are the killer. And this painting is your viewpoint of a crime you have just committed. You arrive at this painting innocent and you leave it guilty. Dr James Fox, British Masters, BBC 2011
For Sickert the entire Edwardian elite stood guilty; guilty of neglecting the poverty and violence that simmered in Britain’s streets. But Sickert had one young devotee who wanted to go even further; he didn’t just want to accuse Edwardian society, he planned to overthrow it ... Percy Wyndham Lewis ... He was not a nice man. (Artists: Sickert & Artists: Lewis) ibid.
Sickert: La Hollandaise c.1906: The Camden Town nudes are a real revelation. Tim Marlow Meets Michael Palin, Michael
There is a feeling of anxiety in this work. ibid. Tim
No drawings were included in the 2008 Tate Britain exhibition, Modern Painters: The Camden Town Group. In that respect it almost precisely mirrored the three exhibitions of the original Camden Town Group, which took place in 1911 and 1912. However, the Tate exhibition catalogue refers to the existence of preparatory studies for the majority of the paintings in the 2008 exhibition, confirming the importance of drawing in the practice of Walter Sickert and other members of the group. This brief study outlines how Sickert used drawings as essential tools towards the creation of his paintings. It also cites examples of how progressive members of the Camden Town Group both adopted his process and adapted it significantly to form a more consciously modern style. Alistair Smith, Tate online