Lithograph on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-boswell-787" aria-label="More by James Boswell" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">James Boswell</a>
Fall London Through City
Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 2000
adults
architecture
crowd
England
figure
flag - non-specific
government and politics
groups
historical: imagined views
London
London - non-specific
night
objects
people
places
religious and ceremonial
revolutionary
social comment
society
street
times of the day
townscapes / man-made features
UK countries and regions
UK London
war
<p>This is<span> </span>one of eight small lithographs Boswell made in 1933 describing <span>The Fall of London. </span>Ron Heisler believes that<span> </span>they were originally conceived for a book by Frank McIlraith and Roy Connolly called <span>Invasion From The Air </span>which describes a Fascist invasion of England (information from Ron Heisler, August 2003). The theme of the book, which was published in 1934, is reminiscent of Boswell’s prints, which illustrate both popular uprisings in the City of London and horrific scenes of the city in ruins.<span> </span>In this dense image Boswell portrays an insurrection in the streets of London, the revolutionaries waving flags and banners in defiance of the authorities. The insurgents have taken the building and a figure stands on the balcony, his arm raised above his head as he addresses the crowd. The bright light cast by the search beams contrasts with the forbidding sky and gloomy buildings, including the Monument, heightening the drama and chaos of the scene.</p>
paper print lithograph
4 March 2014 – 18 May 2014
2014-05-18
4 March 2014 – 18 May 2014
2014-05-18
2014-03-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2014-03-04
Ruin Lust
Exhibition
The Fall of London: Through the City
image: 133 × 95 mm
Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 2000
<p>This is<i> </i>one of eight small <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/lithography" title="Glossary definition for 'Lithography'"><span>lithographs</span></a> Boswell made in 1933 describing <i>The Fall of London. </i>Ron Heisler believes that<i> </i>they were originally conceived for a book by Frank McIlraith and Roy Connolly called <i>Invasion From The Air </i>which describes a Fascist invasion of England (information from Ron Heisler, August 2003). The theme of the book, which was published in 1934, is reminiscent of Boswell’s <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>prints</span></a>, which illustrate both popular uprisings in the City of London and horrific scenes of the city in ruins.<i> </i>In this dense image Boswell portrays an insurrection in the streets of London, the revolutionaries waving flags and banners in defiance of the authorities. The insurgents have taken the building and a figure stands on the balcony, his arm raised above his head as he addresses the crowd. The bright light cast by the search beams contrasts with the forbidding sky and gloomy buildings, including the Monument, heightening the drama and chaos of the scene. 
<br/>
<br/>Boswell learned the art of lithography by attending evening classes taught by the artist James Fitton (1899-1982) at London County Council’s Central School of Arts and Crafts in Southampton Row. His mastery of the technique is evident from this powerful and dense image. He was undoubtedly influenced by the French artists Gustave Doré (1832-1883), and Honoré Daumier (1808-79). Like these artists Boswell received his inspiration by walking in the city at evenings and at the weekends when the narrow and winding streets of London were deserted. The richness of detail and shocking nature of some of the scenes also recalls the series by Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), <i>The Disasters of War. </i>These graphic images portray the death and destruction which the artist himself witnessed during the Peninsular War (1807-14). 
<br/>
<br/>Boswell made these lithographs in the same year that he became a member of the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/artists-international-association" title="Glossary definition for 'Artists International Association'"><span>Artists International Association</span></a>. Founded in 1933 this group was composed of politically engaged artists and designers, including James Fitton and Clifford Rowe (1904-89). The movement was founded as a reaction to the Great Depression of 1929 to 1936 which led to mass unemployment amongst the working classes. This period also witnessed Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and, as a direct consequence of this, the foundation of the Joint Committee for Anti-Fascist Action in Britain. Many of the artists, including Boswell, became members of the Communist Party and had as their objective, to use art as a ‘weapon of the proletariat in the economic and political struggle against the bourgeoisie’ (Donald Drew Egbert, <i>Social Radicalism and the Arts, </i>London 1970, p.497). Although Boswell’s series was not published, the lithographs powerfully express his reaction to the political climate of the time and the consequences of the rise of Fascism. William Feaver described the prints of <i>The Fall of London</i>: ‘Here was the long-awaited apocalypse: looting and mass panic, as familiar landmarks – Waterloo, the British Museum, a Lyons Corner House and London Bridge – toppled’ (Feaver, p.5). 
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<br/>Further reading:
<br/>William Feaver, <i>Boswell’s London: Drawings by James Boswell Showing Changing London from the Thirties to the Fifties’, </i>London 1978
<br/>Barry Curtis, ‘James Boswell’, <i>Block </i>no.1, 1979, pp.53-6
<br/><i>James Boswell: Extracting the Dream Reality, </i>exhibition catalogue, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London 1999
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<br/>Heather Birchall 
<br/>September 2003
<br/></p>

Summary
2004-10-07T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
adults architecture crowd England figure flag - non-specific government and politics groups historical: imagined views London London - non-specific night objects people places religious and ceremonial revolutionary social comment society street times of the day townscapes / man-made features UK countries and regions UK London war