A female nude on a bed (circa 1925)

(Laura) Sylvia Gosse

watercolour

Prints and Drawings Department, British Museum, London

Classification:

Drawing and Watercolour

Materials:

Watercolour

Physical Object Description:

A nude on a bed, with a man sitting on edge of it; room interior, with a woman lying on her back on a bed, at her feet a man, and at right a chair beside a door. Inscribed: "Gosse".

Technique:

Watercolour

Dimensions:

26.1 x 35.6 cm

Accession Number:

1939,0730.7

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1939

Scheme:

Prints and Drawings Fund (1919 - 1954)

Ownership history:

Purchased by A. M. Hind (1880-1957) for the Contemporary Art Society, with its Prints and Drawings Fund, 1934-39; presented to the Prints and Drawings Department, British Museum, London, 1945

Relationship:

Arthur Mayger 'A. M.' Hind Prints and Drawings Department, British Museum, London

Sylvia Gosse adopted Walter Sickert's subject matter with domestic iron bedstead interiors, featuring a reclining naked woman observed by a fully clothed man - known collectively as 'The Camden Town Murder' series, produced between 1907 and 1914. The deliberate placing of two figures with the often ambiguous nature of their relationship creates a particular tension within such compositions, which Gosse also achieves in this instance. Although, the light, vibrant palette employed by Gosse, in this relatively finished watercolour, in around 1925, omits the threatening darkness evoked in Sickert’s low-toned scenes.

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