Ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
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Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/thomas-hennell-1271" aria-label="More by Thomas Hennell" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Thomas Hennell</a>
Portrait Five Figures
Purchased 1940
actions: postures and motions
adults
bench
diseases and conditions
England
England, East
Essex
furnishings
Hennell, Thomas, ‘The Witnesses’
hospital
interiors
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
man
mental illness
objects
people
places
public and municipal
sitting
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
Woodford, Claybury Mental Hospital
<p>This drawing of Hennell’s fellow inmates at Claybury mental hospital in Essex was captioned ‘We were debtors to the Sane’ when Hennell used it as the frontispiece in his book The Witnesses.</p><p>Hennell collected old hand-made paper for his drawings and often used marking ink, which he is said to have diluted down to a silvery grey by secret means.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique ink watercolour
10 March 2003 – July 2003
Mar 2003 – July 2003
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-10
Broken Ground
Collection based display
Portrait Study: Five Figures
support: 264 × 368 mm
Purchased 1940
<div>
    This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> of Hennell’s fellow inmates at      Claybury mental hospital in Essex was captioned ‘We were debtors to      the Sane’ when Hennell used it as the frontispiece in his book The Witnesses.  </div>
<div>
<br/> </div>
<div>
    Hennell collected old hand-made <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> for his drawings      and often used marking <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/ink" title="Glossary definition for 'Ink'"><span>ink</span></a>, which he is said to have diluted down to a      silvery grey by secret means.  </div>

Display caption
2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05413</b>	PORTRAIT STUDY: FIVE FIGURES <i>c.</i> 1935
<br/> 
<br/>Inscr. ‘T. Hennell’ b.l.
<br/>Pen and ink and wash, 10 3/8×14 1/2 (26·5×37).
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Knapping Fund) 1940.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Leicester, November 1955–January 1956 (26).</p>
<p>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/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> was made about 1935 at Claybury Mental Hospital where the artist was confined, and was used as frontispiece to <i>The Witnesses</i> by the artist, published by Peter Davies 1938, where it was entitled ‘We are Debtors to the Sane’. This is an autobiographical book dealing with his experiences in the mental hospital.</p>
<p>On the reverse is another pen and wash drawing of two seated men, a monk sketched in behind them, and a slight outline of a standing man in the centre. Inscr. ‘Jethro Tull and his friends’ (t.r.). Hennell's poem ‘Jethro Tull's Husbandry’ was begun in 1934 and was published by the Oxford University Press in 1936.</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, I
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults bench diseases and conditions England England, East Essex furnishings Hennell, Thomas, ‘The Witnesses’ hospital interiors literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) man mental illness objects people places public and municipal sitting UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions Woodford, Claybury Mental Hospital