WALTER SICKERT 1860-1942
Baccarat, 1920
Pencil 10¾ x 7¾ inches (27.5 x 19.7 cm)
Signed and inscribed with title
PROVENANCE
Peter Cochrane (1913-2004).
We are grateful to Wendy Baron for confirming that this study is for the version of Baccarat, signed and dated 1920, formerly in the collection of Mark Oliver (repr. Wendy Baron, Sickert: Paintings and Drawings 2006 no.547.13). Baron writes that ‘this painting features a woman with a bulging back, seated on a balloon-back chair, the two contiguous shapes making a figure of eight.’ During Sickert’s final stay in Dieppe from 1919 to 1922, he concentrated on interior scenes at the new casino on the Rue Aquado. This was the focus of fashionable life in the city and afforded Sickert excellent opportunities to display his comedic and satirical skills. His dealer Oliver Brown recalled meeting the artist in full evening dress at the casino. He was drawing on small scraps of paper and joked: ‘I am the only one who will make any money in this room’ (Sickert, Royal Academy 1993 no. 95). This drawing was formerly in the personal collection of the well-known art dealer Peter Cochrane.