Mrs Roberts (1944)

Lawrence Burnett Gowing

oil on canvas

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Physical Object Description:

Inscribed: ‘Gowing 44’ bottom right.

Dimensions:

40.6 x 50.8 (support) cm

Accession Number:

N05627

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1945

Scheme:

Historic Purchase by Purchaser (1914-2008)

Ownership history:

Purchased from the Leicester Galleries, London by Thomas Lowinsky (1892-1947) for the Contemporary Art Society, 1945; presented to the Tate Gallery, 1945

Relationship:

Thomas Esmond Lowinsky Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Subject:

Portraits

Gowing painted a portrait of his charwoman, Mrs Ellen Roberts in 1944 when he was living at 8 Paultons Square, Chelsea, London. When it was on show at the Leicester Galleries, London in March 1945 - where it was purchased by the artist Thomas Lowinsky (1892-1947), the elected buyer for the Contemporary Art Society that year - it also appeared in the Daily Sketch on 10 March, with a photograph of the 40-year old sitter, and she is said to have remarked that she was surprised to see her blue-and-white dress had been changed to green.

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