Rue Janetins, Marseilles

Maker Edward Wadsworth (British, 1889-1949)

ClassificationsDRAWINGS

Date1924

Mediumpencil on paper

Dimensions18 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (47.6 x 26.4 cm.)

DescriptionView of a street in Marseilles with buildings.

SignedSigned and dated at lower right: Edward Wadsworth 1924

InscribedSigned and dated at lower right: Edward Wadsworth 1924

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens

Status

Not on view

Label TextBorn in Yorkshire in the north of England, Wadsworth studied at the Slade School. With Nevinson, Bomberg, and several other artists represented in this exhibition, he was one of the signers of the Vorticist manifesto in 1914 and a contributor to "Blast", a short-lived avant-garde literary and artistic publication. After the war, Wadsworth's art became less radical and abstract although it remained firmly rooted in modernism. With its crisp lines and solid forms, his work often displays a classical simplicity that came, in part, from his admiration of the masters of the Renaissance. These qualities are evident in this drawing, one of several made of an area in Marseilles that was notorious for its criminal element. With spare outlines and soft shading on a long sheet of paper, the artist captures the humble houses draped with laundry that crowd the narrow passageway.

Object number96.15

Terms

Exhibitions

20th Century British Works on Paper