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>
Station
Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 2000
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
bridge
bridges and viaducts
businessman
clock
kiosk
leisure and pastimes
lifestyle and culture
magazine - non-specific
man
morning
newspaper - non-specific
objects
people
public and municipal
railway
railway station
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
scientific and measuring
shopkeeper
signage
society
standing
times of the day
townscapes / man-made features
trading and commercial
train
transport: land
urban environment
woman
work and occupations
<p>This small illustration portrays a scene at a railway station at 8.32 in the morning. The people on the platform are all reading newspapers that have been purchased from the newsstand; copies of <i>The Times, Daily Telegraph </i>and <i>Mirror </i>are just visible.<i> </i>The gentleman on the left foreground holds a copy of the left-wing journal, <i>Daily Worker, </i>under his arm, while the woman standing opposite, wearing a knee-length skirt and hat, reads the <i>Daily Mirror. </i>They are all oblivious to the train pulling in to the opposite platform. <i>The Station </i>is part of a series of lithographs Boswell made in 1939 which reveals his fascination with London life, and his ability to observe objectively his daily surroundings. Clear comparisons can be made with the graphic work of George Cruickshank (1792-1878) and the French illustrator, Gustave Doré (1832-1883) who, although working a century earlier, equally exploited the effects of print-making to capture contemporary London life. Other scenes in the series include a cinema (Tate P11669), a theatre (Tate P11665) and the oratory in Hyde Park.</p>
paper print lithograph
24 June 2024
24 June 2024
2024-06-24
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2024-06-24
Archive Gallery: Artists International Association
Collection based display
The Station
image: 195 × 186 mm
Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 2000
<p>This small illustration portrays a scene at a railway station at 8.32 in the morning. The people on the platform are all reading newspapers that have been purchased from the newsstand; copies of <i>The Times, Daily Telegraph </i>and <i>Mirror </i>are just visible.<i> </i>The gentleman on the left foreground holds a copy of the left-wing journal, <i>Daily Worker, </i>under his arm, while the woman standing opposite, wearing a knee-length skirt and hat, reads the <i>Daily Mirror. </i>They are all oblivious to the train pulling in to the opposite platform. <i>The Station </i>is part of a series of <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 1939 which reveals his fascination with London life, and his ability to observe objectively his daily surroundings. Clear comparisons can be made with the graphic work of George Cruickshank (1792-1878) and the French illustrator, Gustave Doré (1832-1883) who, although working a century earlier, equally exploited the effects of <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'"></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/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a>-making to capture contemporary London life. Other scenes in the series include a cinema (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/boswell-the-cinema-p11669" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11669</span></a>), a theatre (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/boswell-the-theatre-p11665" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11665</span></a>) and the oratory in Hyde Park. 
<br/>
<br/>Born in New Zealand, Boswell moved to London in 1925 where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1932 he joined the Communist Party and gave up <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> for politically motivated graphic work. The following year he became co-founder 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>, along with Paul Hogarth (1917-2001) and James Fitton (1899-1982), and began to contribute sketches to left-wing periodicals, <i>The Left Review </i>and the <i>Daily Worker </i>(today known as the <i>Morning Star</i>)<i>. </i>The latter, which Boswell includes in this print, was launched in 1930, the year that 2,500 unemployed men and women participated in a hunger march bearing a petition to present to Parliament signed by a million people. Although this print is far removed from the satirical caricatures he produced for these periodicals, for example <i>His Majesty’s Servants </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/boswell-his-majestys-servants-p11663" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11663</span></a>), <i>The Station</i>
highlights Boswell’s sympathy with the plight of the unemployed and captures what Feaver describes as ‘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). </p>
<p>
<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>William Feaver, <i>Boswell’s London: Drawings by James Boswell Showing Changing London from the Thirties to the Fifties’, </i>London 1978
<br/><i>James Boswell: Extracting the Dream Reality, </i>exhibition catalogue, Austin/Desmond Fine Art, London 1999
<br/>
<br/>Heather Birchall 
<br/>January 2004
<br/></p>

Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
actions: postures and motions adults architecture bridge bridges and viaducts businessman clock kiosk leisure and pastimes lifestyle and culture magazine - non-specific man morning newspaper - non-specific objects people public and municipal railway railway station reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities scientific and measuring shopkeeper signage society standing times of the day townscapes / man-made features trading and commercial train transport: land urban environment woman work and occupations