Two Figures: What Maisie Knew

Walter Richard Sickert 1860 - 1942

Summary

An impressionistic oil sketch of two figures. There is a woman seen in left side profile, seated in the right foreground, and her husband is seated in a hunched position smoking a cigarette in the background to the left. Because the colours are applied in thick brushstrokes, the domestic interior is indistinct.

Display Label

Two Figures: What Maisie Knew 1914 (formerly called Hubby and Marie) Walter Sickert 1860-1942 Oil on canvas The models in this painting are ‘Minnie’, the wife of one of the artist’s male models, and his manservant, Hubby, of whom he was very fond. Despite this, Sickert dismissed him soon afterwards because of his drunkenness and criminal associations. Sickert experimented with his handling of paint in order to achieve a new directness in this painting. The loose and patchy brushwork is laid on thinly to create a sense of movement and spontaneity. The artist wanted to emphasise the reality of life and often used ambiguous narratives to achieve this. The unusual positioning of the two figures suggests a situation imbued with psychological tension, open, like their relationship, to many interpretations. Charles Lambert Rutherston gift 1925.576