Dimensions: support: 635 x 483 mm frame: 878 x 725 x 100 mm
Copyright: © Tate | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Charles Ginner's "The Café Royal" just pulses with energy, doesn't it? The brushstrokes feel almost like mosaic tiles, capturing the cafe's gilded decadence. How would you unpack this bustling scene? Curator: I see a world caught between tradition and modernity. The lush, almost suffocating ornamentation clashes intriguingly with the mundane activity of the patrons. Does it strike you as celebratory or…something else? Editor: I see the artist's eye definitely favoring the interior rather than the patrons. Curator: Yes, the people seem almost incidental, swallowed by the opulence. For me, it is how Ginner has caught the fleeting moment in time. I see the artist attempting to trap a moment in time. Editor: That's a great way to put it. I learned to appreciate the opulence Ginner was able to express. Curator: And I see that looking closer at the fleeting moment can let one appreciate the art piece more.
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The Café Royal in Regent Street was well known as a meeting place for London artists and writers. The people in this picture have not been identified. The Café was often painted, although not particularly by members of the Camden Town Group, who preferred to depict more ordinary places. Two other paintings by Ginner of areas in central London close to the Café Royal are displayed nearby. They are of Piccadilly Circus and the Victoria Embankment Gardens. Ginner grew up in France and was trained in Paris, at first as an architect. He moved to London in 1909. He continued to paint landscapes in the style of Camden Town into the 1940s, and was the longest surviving member of the Group. Gallery label, August 2004
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