The Camden Town Group in Context

It is perhaps no great surprise to discover that Walter Sickert's paintings frequently depict topics and themes associated with contemporary theatre. Sickert worked as an actor during the late 1870s and early 1880s, during which he had a brief spell at Henry Irving's Lyceum and toured with George Rignold's and William and Madge Kendal's companies. Indeed, his interest in the theatre as a source and subject matter for his paintings has long been acknowledged, yet its influence during his Camden Town period has remained surprisingly overlooked. If, however, we consider Sickert’s works from the period of his return to London in 1905 to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, a number of thematic and compositional similarities emerge that reveal a curious relationship with the developing New Drama and contemporary drama in general.

Sickert’s early career as an actor helped him foster a number of significant friendships and acquaintances with theatrical figures, including the playwright Arthur Wing Pinero and the actor Johnston Forbes-Robertson. In addition, his Paris links introduced him to the naturalist theatre of André Antoine’s Théâtre-Libre and Aurélien Lugné-Poë’s symbolist Théâtre de l’OEuvre (his friends Jacques-Émile Blanche and George Moore were regular attenders). Indeed, the Parisian theatre also provided a vital influence for the direction and staging of Harley Granville Barker and John Eugene Vedrenne’s management at London’s Royal Court Theatre between 1904 and 1907. The Court provided English audiences with their first experiences of avant-garde European works (by Maurice Maeterlinck, Henrik Ibsen and Gerhart Hauptmann) as well as a platform for British dramatists of the New Drama school, such as George Bernard Shaw, St John Hankin, John Galsworthy and Elizabeth Robins. The ideals of Antoine’s theatre, and subsequently Barker and Vedrenne’s, were perfectly summarised by the playwright Jean Jullien:

Like the Théâtre-Libre, productions at the Court were characterised by their attention to psychological honesty as well as naturalistic set-design. Regarding the 1905 production of Barker’s The Voysey Inheritance, for example, the Era noted that it was ‘a pure joy to listen to dialogue so inevitably true to the commonplaces of everyday middle-class life’.3 Blanche, again, was a frequent visitor:

New Drama theatre was therefore a rich source of interest for Sickert’s contemporaries and was undoubtedly ripe for interpretation through a painter’s brush.

As noted, the theatre of the New Drama was characterised by naturalistic sets, psychologically driven situations rather than elaborate plots, and a greater interest in realism and sincerity in acting – in contrast to the more typical visual spectacle of London’s middle class West End theatre productions. The New Drama was principally inspired by the successes of continental theatre, and particularly the plays of Ibsen. The Norwegian had cast a long shadow on the English stage since the 1880s, partly through the translations of his work by William Archer and Edmund Gosse as well as the 1891 production of Ghosts at J.T. Grien’s Independent Theatre (which Sickert may have attended).5 As George Bernard Shaw noted in 1895, so vital was Ibsen’s influence that producers were at risk of failing their audience if they did not recognise his importance: ‘In short, a modern manager need not produce The Wild Duck; but he must be very careful not to produce a play which will seem insipid and old-fashioned to playgoers who have seen The Wild Duck, even though they may have hissed it.’6

The New Dramatists typically explored a number of contemporary social and artistic subjects, such as the emancipation of women – especially the role of the ‘New Woman’ and the ‘marriage problem’. Sickert’s knowledge of the developing feminist/suffrage themes seen in the theatre was also likely to have been informed by his acquaintance with the actress Gertrude Kingston, who managed the Little Theatre in John Street between 1911 and 1915. In addition to housing Edith Craig’s Pioneer Players (which had strong links to the Suffrage campaign), the Little Theatre also produced a number of New Drama pieces. The concerns of feminism undoubtedly influenced Sickert’s narratives, as Craig noted on modern playwriting:

New Drama also demonstrated a growing interest in class distinctions (seen particularly in the relocation and contrast between middle class and lower class environments and circumstances), such as Arthur Wing Pinero’s Mid-Channel (St James’s Theatre, September and October 1909), John Galsworthy’s Strife (Duke of York’s, Haymarket and the Adelphi theatres, March and April 1909, fig.1), Alfred Sutro’s The Perplexed Husband (Wyndham’s Theatre, September 1911, fig.2) and Harley Granville-Barker’s Waste (Imperial Theatre, November 1907). Two paintings, both held in Tate’s collection, Ennui c.1914 (Tate N03846, fig.4) and Off to the Pub 1911 (Tate N05430, fig.8), demonstrate the inspiration Sickert appears to have derived from these forms of theatre.

One of the difficulties in locating potential theatrical inspiration and visual sources for Sickert’s Camden Town images is that very few exist, at least in terms of photographs of avant-garde productions. It was rare for a play to be photographed mid-performance and contemporary photographs were usually staged to benefit the photographer’s requirements rather than to reflect an authentic record of the production. Those plays that were photographed were most often West End comedies, romances and melodramas – usually popular productions that had a long run. These images were widely disseminated through the popular press, including theatrical journals such as Play Pictorial and Playgoer and Society Illustrated as well as more general publications including the Daily Mirror, Daily Telegraph, Illustrated London News, Sketch and Tatler as well as on postcards and posters. The New Drama productions, on the other hand, typically lasted only for short runs and were performed to the ‘discerning’ playgoer rather than a wider audience.

However, even photographs of West End productions provide valuable indications of potential visual inspiration for Sickert. Although depicting ‘lighter’ productions they provide a tantalising, albeit distilled, taste of modern theatrical stage conventions. Indeed, a series of visual compositional similarities emerge between Sickert’s images of domestic duets and the photographic records of productions, including an obvious shared interest in gesture, pose and body language. In addition, a recurring composition in theatrical photographs consists of contrasting seated and standing male and female figures with the subject directly addressing the viewer (figs.2 and 3).8 Ultimately, like Sickert’s paintings, these photographs are focused on visually interpreting the conflict and tension within relationships.

Unlike the earlier music hall portraits, such as Little Dot Hetherington at the Bedford Music Hall c.1888–9 (private collection)9 or The P.S. Wings in the O.P. Mirror c.1888–9 (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen),10 or later Shakespeare-related pieces like ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ c.1937 (private collection),11 during his Camden Town period Sickert’s inspiration derived not from copying directly from the stage, but from the general theatrical milieu of the time; from discussions among friends and acquaintances, and reviews and photographic depictions in newspapers and journals. In essence, Sickert became the stage-manager of his work, directing and choreographing his ‘cast’, choosing locations, arranging props and furnishings and suggesting narratives. Crucially, his interpretations expanded upon themes, compositions and subjects then prevalent on the London stage. This was only possible through his interest and knowledge of the traditions and development of contemporary theatre. As a result his Camden Town paintings reveal an unparalleled theatricality which has previously been neglected in readings of his work. While the theatrical experience remains ephemeral, Sickert has provided the viewer with a permanent impression of the visual and emotional experience of the Edwardian theatre.

Ennui, featuring Sickert’s regular cast of ‘Hubby’ and Marie Hayes, with its concentration on a lower class domestic drama, setting and ambiguous narrative, perfectly complements the New Drama model and characterises Sickert’s work of the period (fig.4).13 While the writer Virginia Woolf’s famous description of Ennui’s ‘old publican’ suggests a novelistic source, it eclipses the artist’s more likely source of inspiration.14 Discussing the value of narrative Sickert famously stated, ‘All the greater draughtsmen tell a story’;15 however, the inspiration for this story lies on the stage rather than in the novel.

The ambiguous relationship between the couple in Ennui, combined with the interest in psychology and naturalism, reveals Sickert’s interest in contemporary stage practice. As noted, theatrical modes of the day tended to focus on a particular range of scenarios, and a popular New Drama narrative was that of the liberation of an unhappily married woman, often through the escape of an affair. Rejecting the traditional trope of the inevitable, and expected, moral decline of the ‘fallen woman’, however, the New Dramatists preferred to present their women as bored, intelligent, modern individuals. Often married to a boorish older husband, these were emotionally strong (although often not financially independent) individuals. By contrasting the symbolically trapped bird in the glass dome on the chest of drawers and the exotic figure in the framed portrait on the wall with the dejected figure of Marie and her dreary surroundings in Ennui, Sickert was adhering to current stage conventions: the props reveal initial clues to the viewers/audience as to how they might initially read the characters’ situation. Similarly, the male figure, Hubby, dressed in a brown suit and slumped at a plain table in an equally mundane room, his glass half empty, tells the viewer much about the couple’s relationship: although physically, even claustrophobically close, there is a vast emotional distance between these two figures.

For a painter the challenge of depicting dialogue was naturally difficult. However, as the New Dramatists strove towards more naturalistic forms they underlined the importance of non-verbal communication. The intensity of a loaded silence or pause was as powerful as any speech, as Sickert’s friend the poet Arthur Symons noted: ‘Two people should be able to sit quietly in a room, without ever leaving their chairs, and to hold our attention breathless for as long as the playwright likes.’16

John Galsworthy’s highly successful The Fugitive (The Court and Prince of Wales’s theatres, 16 September–18 October 1913, fig.5) provides an interesting thematic and visual comparison to Ennui. A ‘triumph of realism’ according to the Era, the play narrates the tale of Clare Desmond who, trapped in a loveless marriage, embarks on an affair with the younger Kenneth Malise.17 Clare’s marriage, however, was not particularly desperate. Neither she nor her husband was at fault:

Not necessarily unsympathetic, Clare’s husband is nevertheless adamant about his wife’s duty:

The scene in which Clare requests a separation from George tellingly concludes with her husband asserting his authority, both physically and emotionally, as the stage directions make clear: ‘In the gleam of light Clare is standing, unhooking a necklet. He goes in, shutting the door behind him with a thud.’20 Clare’s lack of independent wealth is symbolically echoed in the constrained spaces of Ennui’s lower class interior. In the painting, the female figure appears equally trapped – emotionally and literally, as well as financially and psychologically – simply another object owned by the man.

In addition to The Fugitive, George Bernard Shaw’s Getting Married (first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, 12 May 1908) discusses a similarly disintegrating relationship. Collins, a tradesman, notes his sister-in-law’s predilection for short-lived affairs:

The relationship represented in Ennui also bears a subtle similarity to that of the dull marriage of Polina and Shamrayev in Chekhov’s The Seagull (produced by the Adelphi Play Society at Gertrude Kingston’s Little Theatre in 1912). Nina’s self-proclaimed identification with the dead seagull in Chekhov’s play echoes Sickert’s inclusion of the trapped bird in a glass case. Indeed, in describing his plays as ‘the result of observation and the study of life’,22 Chekhov’s description coheres with Sickert’s own ideas on painting: ‘[The painter] has all his work cut out for him, observing and recording. His poetry is the interpretation of everyday life.’23

In addition to splintered relationships, the other key interest of the New Dramatist was the issue of class. Elizabeth Baker’s Chains (The Court for one performance on 18 April 1909 and the Duke of York’s 15 May–16 June 1910), for example, presents a similarly fractured duet to Ennui while highlighting the hardships faced by a lower class couple. Set in the sitting room of Charley and Lily Wilson, the play explores the drudgery of the life of a low-paid clerk. As Charley laments:

While no photographs of the production exist, Baker’s set description recalls several of Sickert’s interiors:

The play’s atmosphere similarly shared an affinity with Sickert’s paintings, especially Ennui, as the Stage noted: ‘there is hardly any action ... [it depicts the] poignant reality [of a] dull, commonplace existence in suburban West London’.27

In the 1900s Galsworthy was the main advocate of the lower class on stage, but Stanley Houghton’s Hindle Wakes (Aldwych, Playhouse and Court theatres, 16 June–19 October 1912 and again at the Court, 22 September–18 October 1913, fig.6)28 and Cicely Hamilton’s Diana of Dobson’s (Kingsway Theatre, 12 February–20 June 1908 and 11 January–6 February 1909, fig.7) similarly drew upon working class characters and situations. Galsworthy’s The Silver Box (The Court, 25 September–19 October 1906 and 8–27 April 1907) highlights the inequality of justice between the classes, seen in this case through the aristocratic Barthwick and the lower class Jones families. Jack Barthwick, a young man about town, returns home drunk one evening and is helped inside by James Jones (the husband of the family’s maid). Jones takes advantage of Barthwick’s offer of thanks by seizing a silver cigarette box and a lady’s purse.29 The following morning the items are discovered missing and Mrs Jones is wrongly arrested for the crime. However, upon discovering that the lady’s purse was originally stolen by Jack, his father pays off the lady to avoid any scandal and only mildly reprimands his son. By contrast, after admitting his guilt Jones receives a month’s hard labour.

The Jones’s marriage is oppressive and violent: ‘Of course I would leave him, but I’m really afraid of what he’d do to me. He’s such a violent man when he’s not himself’, confesses Mrs Jones.30 The description of their lodging house reveals Galsworthy’s interest in a naturalistic set and recalls Sickert’s own compositions:

The play, thought the Illustrated London News, was ‘full of careful observation and most of its types are wonderfully true to life’.32 It certainly shared some stylistic and thematic affinity with Sickert’s ideas on art, particularly a fascination with the secret and private lives of his domestic subjects:

This concern with class is clearly manifested in Sickert’s Off to the Pub (fig.8), in which a lower class female figure, dressed in the costume of a coster-girl, sits in a drab and plainly furnished room. Her accomplice, probably her lover (and again Hubby, Sickert’s favoured model for scenes of this type), reaches for the door – suggesting his exit. Once more gestures and poses indicate some unsaid, unidentifiable disaffection in their relationship while simultaneously exploiting the lower class situation for dramatic effect.

In essence, Camden Town provided Sickert with a living stage-set, one filled with realist (in terms of subject matter and treatment) and naturalist (in terms of visuality) characters and sets. Contemporary theatre insisted on new styles and methods of performance and Sickert’s paintings reflect this ambition in their concentration on intimate, psychologically intense domestic duets. Filled as they are with modern figures and suggesting modern dilemmas, his images reveal his interest in the subtext of his ‘characters’; the implied hidden lives behind their situation. The accusations of depravity directed towards Sickert’s Camden Town works are perhaps not surprising. As the character, Paul, states in H.H. Davies’ play Lady Epping’s Lawsuit: ‘No one seems to think a play is serious unless it’s about unpleasant people.’34 Ultimately, the inspiration of the theatre on Sickert’s life and career was a powerful and instructive one, as he stated later in 1934: ‘The influence between brush and mask has at the best periods been reciprocal.’35