Walter Sickert

British, 1860-1942

NationalityBritish

BiographyCentral figure in the development of Impressionism in Britain. Sickert was an innovator in the expressive use of paint and the adoption of challenging contemporary subject matter. Born in Munich, he immigrated to England with his family in 1868. After briefly pursuing an acting career, he attended London's Slade School of Fine Art from 1881 to 1883. Thereafter, he became the pupil and studio assistant of James McNeill Whistler, who encouraged him to subordinate subject matter to the formal and aesthetic qualities of his work. From 1885 Sickert spent long periods working in Dieppe, where he followed developments in modern French art. In 1889 he co-organized a "London Impressionists" exhibition. He was a pivotal figure in several groups formed for the exhibition and discussion of progressive art, including the Fitzroy Street Group (1907-11) and the Camden Town Group (1911-14). Sickert gained notoriety for his depictions of the shabby and sordid world of the urban underclass and for his evocations of the gaudy atmosphere of the music hall.

[Great British Paintings Label Text]

Person TypeIndividual