Mornington Crescent nude, contre-jour

several productions in London under the stage name of Mr Nemo. However, fine art was his true passion and after a short time at the Slade School, in 1882 he became an apprentice in the studio of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Over the next two decades of his career, Whistler was to remain an important influence on Sickert’s practice, but after a chance meeting with Edgar Degas in 1883 he became a great admirer of this noted French Impressionist. For a time Sickert was a member of the New England Art Club but became disillusioned with the artistic community in Britain and, at the turn of the nineteenth century, decamped to Europe for a decade. Returning to London in 1906, Sickert established himself in Camden Town and became the fulcrum of the Camden Town Group.

Mornington Crescent nude forms part of a series of works Sickert completed following the sensational murder of a prostitute in Camden Town in 1907. Sickert’s Mornington Crescent works depict a nude woman reclining on a wrought iron bed; she gazes brashly from the canvas, without pretention, with her body on display for the artist, or perhaps a prospective customer. Sickert’s nude is presented contre-jour, the backlighting sending much of her face into shadow and emphasising the artist’s masterly handling of colour and light. The influence of French Impressionism is undeniable in this painting, yet Sickert’s work is much darker and grittier, arguably showing a more realistic version of everyday life in turn-of-the-century London.

Tansy Curtin, Curator, International Art pre-1980