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拍品專文
In 1930, as Walter Richard Sickert looked upon this view of the Barnet Fair, it would have been changing from a bustling marketplace for livestock and horse racing to a pleasure ground, as it remains to this day. The horses are still visible in the distance, but it is the colourful stage that is the focus. It is, perhaps, a careful composition by the artist, designed as a commentary on the country’s social change, as larger cities like London were gradually expanding outwards, melding into the countryside beyond its former borders.
Stylistically, we can notice impressionistic influences and indeed as a younger artist, it is known that Sickert met with a great influence in his life, Edgar Degas, and took advantage of the lessons the experienced French artist had to offer. Sickert avoided painting on site, as he found painting from life too undisciplined, and instead focused on painting from careful drawings or photographs, as is probably the case with this painting. It is fairly obscured as a scene, with some of his trademarks in place: its indecipherable writing and broken brushwork are some examples.
Indeed, one of Sickert’s greatest strengths was his aptitude in combining the expressionistic lightness of painting with a measured arrangement. The scene is composed of flat patches of light and dark hues and the people and animals in the distance appear to move as small particles of colour, melting in to the landscape. Solid form is lost in the haze of the daylight.
Wendy Baron has suggested that Sickert was ‘doing his own take on the kind of subjects popularised by Alfred Munnings’ (W. Baron, Sickert Paintings and Drawings, London, 2006, p. 470). Their approaches certainly differ greatly, but the world of entertainment was an inspiration for them both. The romanticism of the theatre, the travelling caravans and the horse races affected Sickert greatly. The realism, an impartial view of the masses, was increasingly of interest. When speaking on the subject, he is quoted as saying that artists ‘must affect to be thrilled by scaffolding, or seduced by oranges’ (ibid, p.76).
We are very grateful to Dr Wendy Baron for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.