Graphite, ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/dame-ethel-walker-2115" aria-label="More by Dame Ethel Walker" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Dame Ethel Walker</a>
Bathers
Purchased 1948
actions: postures and motions
adults
bathing / swimming
boat, yacht
child
children
cliff
coast
family
female
group
groups
leisure and pastimes
mother and child
nudes
people
recreational activities
rocky
sea
seascapes and coasts
sitting
society
standing
transport: water
wave
woman
paper unique graphite ink watercolour
9 October 2023 – 12 May 2024
2024-05-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-10-09
Ethel Walker: Female Utopias
Collection based display
The Bathers
support: 679 × 1086 mm
Purchased 1948
<p><b>N05855</b> THE BATHERS <i>c.</i> 1910–20</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Ethel Walker’ b.r.
<br/>Pencil, pen, ink and watercolour, 26 3/4×42 3/4 (68×108·5).
<br/>Purchased from Miss Maud Elmer (Knapping Fund) 1948.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Professor Fred Brown, probably purchased from the artist; Miss Ellen Brown; Miss Maud Elmer.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Redfern Gallery, February 1927 (10), as ‘The Bathers’; Venice Biennale, 1930 (British Pavilion, 206); R.A., 1931 (934), as ‘The Picnic: decoration’; British Council, <i>Modern British Water-colours</i>, Sweden, 1943 (25); <i>Ethel Walker, Frances Hodgkins, Gwen John</i>, Tate Gallery, May–June 1952 (37), and Arts Council tour, 1952 (36).</p>
<p>In some areas (for example where the sea is breaking on the shore) the surface 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/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> has been torn away to create a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/impasto" title="Glossary definition for 'Impasto'"><span>textural</span></a> effect. On the left, in the group of seated nude bathers, the two on the right have been added and are done on a separate piece of paper stuck on to the support.</p>
<p>On 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/r/recto-verso" title="Glossary definition for 'Recto / Verso'"><span>verso</span></a> is a <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/pen-and-ink" title="Glossary definition for 'Pen and Ink'"><span>pen and ink</span></a> and wash sketch, partially destroyed ( 1/4 in. on the right is missing), which agrees in most details with the finished <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> on the recto.</p>
<p>Another, apparently later <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> of this subject, more finished and with minor variations in composition, was lent to the 1952 memorial exhibition at the Tate Gallery (42) by Mrs P. M. Douglas; it is signed and dated 1923.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults bathing / swimming boat, yacht child children cliff coast family female group groups leisure and pastimes mother and child nudes people recreational activities rocky sea seascapes and coasts sitting society standing transport: water wave woman