David Bomberg,

British 1890-1957 -

The Bomb Store, 1942;

oil on paper laid down on board, 76 x 57 cm (ARR)

Provenance: Boundary Gallery, London

Note: with thanks to Agi Katz for her assistance with the cataloguing of this work.

Note: In 1942 Bomberg received a commission for the War Artists Advisory Committee to paint an underground bomb store at RAF Fauld in Tutbury, creating a small body of works that were highly abstracted and almost geometric in form, reminiscent of his early works such as 'The Mud Bath'. The works are now accepted to be some of the greatest of the artist's career, with two works in the Tate Collection and drawings in the Imperial War Museum. Another work from the series sold at Sotheby's on 30th June 2021, lot 325.

David Bomberg was a member of the Whitechapel Boys. He studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry Tonks, and alongside artists such as Stanley Spencer, Ben Nicholson, and Paul Nash. He was awarded the Slade Prize for drawing in 1913, after which he travelled to France, meeting contemporaries such as Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani. In 1914 he co-curated an exhibition with Jacob Epstein, in which his works were shown alongside those of Modigliano, Kisling, and other prominent Jewish artists living in France.

His first solo exhibition was held at the Chenil Gallery in 1914, where visitors included Augustus John, Marinetti, Duchamp and Brancusi. Bombergs work has been the subject of a number of solo exhibitions, including at the Israel Museum in 1983, at the Tate in 1988, and at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1979 when under the directorship of Nicholas Serota. His works are currently held at MoMA in New York, the Art Institute in Chicago, the Tate in London and National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh.