Study for ‘Trooping the Colour’ c. 1958 - 1959

Editor: This drawing, "Study for ‘Trooping the Colour’" by William Roberts, shows a military procession in pencil. It feels very regimented and stiff. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a critical commentary on the structures of power. Roberts, a veteran of WWI, uses geometric forms to depict soldiers, reducing them to automatons. How does this dehumanization reflect the artist's experience of war and the military industrial complex? Editor: So it's not just a depiction of a ceremony, but a statement about the individual within a larger system? Curator: Precisely. Consider the historical context. The interwar period saw rising anxieties about mechanization and the loss of individual agency, especially for working class citizens. Roberts captures that feeling. Editor: That gives me a completely different perspective on the drawing. Thank you. Curator: Absolutely. Art invites us to question not just what we see, but why we see it that way.