The Camden Town Group in Context

ISBN 978-1-84976-385-1

Malcolm Drummond Audience at a Cinema or Music Hall ?c.1910s

Malcolm Drummond 'Audience at a Cinema or Music Hall' ?c.1910s
Malcolm Drummond 1880–1945
Audience at a Cinema or Music Hall ?c.1910s
Charcoal on sketchbook paper
106 x 182 mm
Tate Archive TGA 8915
Purchased from Joyce Mills, September 1989
© Estate of Malcolm Drummond
In this drawing four men in profile are looking at something to the right of the composition, probably a film or stage production. The sketch could possibly relate to Drummond’s painting, In the Cinema 1913 (fig.1), which depicts an audience seated within a darkened picture house. Drummond was a student of Walter Sickert, who also depicted an audience watching a film in Gallery of the Old Mogul 1906 (fig.2). However, Sickert was also a keen sketcher of music halls, and Drummond’s drawing could equally depict a music hall or theatre audience. The light tone of the sketch would substantiate this too, in contrast to the dark colours of In the Cinema.
Malcolm Drummond 'In the Cinema' 1913
Fig.1
Malcolm Drummond 1880–1945
In the Cinema 1913
695 x 695 mm
Ferens Art Gallery, Hull
© Estate of Malcolm Drummond
Photo © Ferens Art Gallery: Hull Museums
Walter Richard Sickert 'Gallery of the Old Mogul' 1906
Fig.2
Walter Richard Sickert 1860–1942
Gallery of the Old Mogul 1906
Oil paint on canvas
610 x 730 mm
Private collection
© Estate of Walter R. Sickert / DACS

The sketch is on page 12 of a ‘Press Sketch Book’ made by Reeves & Son Ltd, London. The sketchbook has a variety of drawings in it, including figure studies, street scenes, landscapes, performers on stage and nudes. Woman Wearing a Hat, Woman Reading and Man Sleeping are from the same sketchbook (TGA 8915, TGA 8915 and TGA 8915).

Helena Bonett
June 2011

How to cite

Malcolm Drummond, Audience at a Cinema or Music Hall, ?c.1910s, in Helena Bonett, Ysanne Holt, Jennifer Mundy (eds.), The Camden Town Group in Context, Tate Research Publication, May 2012, https://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/camden-town-group/malcolm-drummond-audience-at-a-cinema-or-music-hall-r1104668, accessed 09 November 2024.