The Camden Town Group in Context

This pencil sketch appears to be a portrait of Drummond’s fellow Camden Town Group member, Charles Ginner. The hat, suit and the sitter’s age and appearance all correspond with the details of a painted portrait Drummond made of Ginner (fig.1), which was exhibited at the second Camden Town Group exhibition in December 1911. However, while the finished portrait is set within an interior with one of Ginner’s post-impressionist-style paintings on the wall behind, the location of the sketch appears to be a public house. A pint glass sits on the bar in front of the sitter, and there is a soda siphon and beer tap to his left. Drummond later depicted a pub in a painting titled The Stag Tavern 1929 (Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, reproduced at http://www.bridgemanart.com and in Malcolm Drummond 1880–1945, exhibition catalogue, Arts Council, London 1963, pl.IV).

A small sketch of what appears to be a female head wearing a close-fitting hat is in the top left of the page. The drawing is on page 25 of a sketchbook made by C. Roberson & Co. Ltd, London. Two other studies from this sketchbook reproduced on this website are Putting on a Horse Shoe and Horses (TGA 8915 and TGA 8915).