Figure Composition

David Bomberg 1890 - 1957

Summary

Composition representing two figures interlocked (arm in arm). Highly reminiscent of the futurist style, with essential ‘pure’ form represented. The painting is constructed entirely of block-colour and hard-edged shapes. The figure on the left comprises of a rectangular shape, with a thinner rectangle on top. The figure to the right is roughly in a ‘Y’ shape. Depth is represented in the painting by black rectangles of shadow giving depth to these figures. The interlocking section comprises of elongated rectangular shapes bending in a right-angle. There are both straight lines and curved lines in the painting, as the background (split between two distinct orange colours, one more red in tone) is separated into two parts by a curved line. The paint application is thick with some texture to the surface. The painting features an extremely limited palette as only five colours are used in the painting.

Display Label

Gallery text panel Tradition and Experiment Early Twentieth-Century Art 1900 - 1939. In Britain, the beginning of the 20th century coincided with the end of the Victorian age. Artists and designers experimented, challenging traditional ways of seeing and making; now trying to create a new art for a modern era. In painting, it was often traditional subject matter such as portraits, landscapes and interiors that would be tackled in new ways. The bustle and the brutality of urban life was an inspiration or something to escape from. Boundaries became increasingly blurred between design and decoration, painting and making and individual expression replaced academic authority. Art was made to be affordable and at a scale that would fit into ordinary homes. Some called the celebration of the modern into question after the horrors of the First World War. Traditional imagery was simplified or became childlike and slowly broke down into fragmented visions. Dream and chance tapped into subconscious anxieties and in 1939, world war intervened once again.