Dimensions: image: 210 x 200 mm
Copyright: © The estate of James Boswell | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Here we have James Boswell's "The Theatre," held in the Tate Collections. What strikes you first about it? Editor: The intense contrast! The deep blacks of the stage curtains versus the bright, almost sterile stage floor creates a potent sense of drama, even before considering the figure. Curator: It almost feels voyeuristic, doesn’t it? As if we’re peering into a very private, perhaps vulnerable, moment for this performer. Boswell’s use of line is so evocative. Editor: Precisely! The diagonal lines of the stage force perspective, drawing the eye to the solitary figure. The theater boxes also seem to be a chaotic mess of dark strokes, like shadows. Curator: It makes me wonder what play this is and the performer’s state of mind. Is it triumph or terror that compels them? Or perhaps, just the everyday vulnerability of being seen. Editor: Or is it the performance of vulnerability? The ambiguity is key; it allows the viewer to project their own anxieties and experiences onto that stage. Curator: Absolutely. It's fascinating how such simple lines can contain such complex emotional territory. Editor: Indeed, a masterclass in the power of suggestion!
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tate 3 months ago
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In this image a man is shown acting in a theatre, wearing Elizabethan costume. His presence alone on the stage suggests he may be playing Hamlet delivering a soliloquy to the audience. The ornate interior, boxes and coat of arms suggest a Victorian or Edwardian theatre. The Theatre is part of a series of lithographs Boswell made in 1939 of London. He learned the art of lithography by attending evening classes taught by the artist James Fitton (1899-1982) at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Southampton Row, and his mastery of the technique is evident from this small yet detailed image. Other scenes in the series include a cinema (Tate P11669), a railway station (Tate P11667) and the oratory in Hyde Park. Feaver describes the series: ‘This is the London of Graham Greene’s seedy, conscience-stricken agents, of Patrick Hamilton’s hungover failures in life, of Orwell’s down and out literary agents’ (Feaver, p.6).
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