Walter Sickert (1860-1942)

The Mantelpiece

Sickert was the driving force behind the Camden Town Group. His working methods were inspired by Degas: making sketches from life before creating a preparatory design in pencil and then developing the painting in the studio, paying great attention to painted surface of the picture. Degas also gave him his primary subject matter - scenes from contemporary life.

In 1905 Sickert moved to Camden, a working class area which had become shabby and unfashionable. He explored the daily lives of its residents in paintings that moved from the bright lights of the music halls to dimly lit domestic interiors such as The Mantelpiece. Sickert believed that beauty could be found everywhere in the city but his paintings often focussed on the squalid and seedy; the emotions of his subjects ranging from boredom to barely suppressed violence.

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