Prints and Drawings Room
View by appointment- Artist
- James Boswell 1906–1971
- Medium
- Lithograph on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 213 × 213 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 1977
- Reference
- P01819
Display caption
Boswell was fascinated by the people of London. His explorations of Camden Town, Kentish Town and the West End of the city resulted in a number of lithographs, including this view of a seedy magazine stand in Leicester Square. Many of these prints were reproduced in the Communist journal, Left Review, of which Boswell became editor in 1934.
The linearity of this print and the grotesque physiognomy of the characters were inspired by the German caricaturist George Grosz, whose savage humour condemned the rise of German militarism in the 1920s. Like Grosz's work, Boswell's satirical sketches attacked the bourgeoisie.
Gallery label, September 2004
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