David Bomberg 1890-1957
This poster was commissioned by the Polish-Jewish poet and jeweller Moshe Oved (Edward Goodack, aka Good), a founder member of the Ben Uri Art Society, as an advertisement in 1919. Oved's jewellery shop 'Cameo Corner', at 1 New Oxford Street, offered 'all sorts of barbaric and beautiful things ... at prices within reach of all', and Oved numbered Queen Mary among his customers.
This work was produced during a brief flurry of graphic projects by Bomberg during one of his many periods of economic uncertainty and as he looked for new direction after the devastating experience of the First World War. Pictorial devices, such as the bold bissection of the background, and retention of the sharp-edged geometric forms he favoured during his association with Vorticism (which he never fully embraced) can also be found in contemporaneous works including the painting Ghetto Theatre (1920) and the gouache Canal Bank, France (1920). The model in the foreground, seen stringing 'rare beads', is Bomberg's first wife, Alice Mayes. Originally printed by W R Frick, a Smithfields lithographer, this version of the poster was reproduced in a limited edition of 150 in 1983.
Provenance
purchased 2015Exhibitions
2017 Bomberg: Touring Exhibition, Pallant House Gallery
2018 Bomberg, Ben Uri Gallery and Museum
2018 Bomberg: Touring Exhibition, Laing Art Gallery
Literature
Rachel Dickson and Sarah MacDougall, eds., Ben Uri: 100 Years in London - Art, Identity, Migration (London: Ben Uri Gallery, 2015), p. 45, illus.Be the first to know – Sign Up
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