7 July 2016

6993

‘A Bank Holiday Fair’ was painted in 1919. It’s a watercolour over pencil and is in the UCL Art Museum. ‘A sense of disharmony is introduced  by the ghostly appearance of the vast and sinister gas holders which tower over the houses, part of ever-increasing urbanisation and industrialisation that was viewed negatively by Winifred Knights. The contrast between the fashionably dressed figures queuing up to purchase tickets for an entertainment and the simply dressed barefooted gipsies on the other side of the road again sets up a discourse between modernity and tradition’ (Sacha Llewellyn in her book/catalogue).