Walter Sickert ARA,
British 1860-1942 -
 
Café Vernet, Dieppe, c.1920;
 

Walter Sickert ARA,

British 1860-1942 -

Café Vernet, Dieppe, c.1920;

pen and ink on paper, signed lower left and inscribed lower centre 'Sickert Vernet's' and extensively annotated in English and French across sheet, 26.8 x 20.8 cm

Provenance: with Browse and Darby, London, 1980 (according to the label attached to the reverse of the frame); private collection, UK; Christie's, London, British Art on Paper, 21st November 2007, lot 14; Lowell Libson, London (according to the label attached to the reverse of the frame); private collection, UK

Note: After the Great War, Sickert and his wife made their home in France and by the spring of 1919 they had moved to Envermeu, a village within striking distance of Dieppe. After Christine Sickerts death in October 1920, he moved back into Dieppe and remained there for two years. At this time most of his energies appear to have been concentrated on interiors at either the Café Vernet or the Casino.

Vernets, on the quai Henri IV was what was known as a caboulot or café-chantant, a small café and bar where dancing and singing would form part of the evenings entertainment. Richard Shone has pointed out (Wendy Baron and Richard Shone, Sickert Paintings, exhibition catalogue, 1992, p.274) that when Sickert was making studies at the Casino where play opened at midnight, he would spend the previous part of the evening at Vernets.

The present drawing is one Sickerts most elaborate and complex drawings from the series of studies connected with the café. In it, we see the singers image reflected in one of the large mirrors that lined the room. A similar scene is depicted in Au Caboulot au bout du Quai (The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) which shows the singer seen from the behind and to the side of the small proscenium stage, giving an oblique view of the room and diners seated at a table. Another painting, O Nuit dAmour (Manchester City Art Gallery) depicts the café from the exterior at night and shows the busy, bright interior, lined with mirrors and lit by chandeliers.

This drawing is extensively annotated in English and French with colour notes and comments including light froth cold drink with a line pointing to a glass and colour of my drawing room walls.