Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/henry-tonks-2055" aria-label="More by Henry Tonks" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Henry Tonks</a>
Saturday Night in Vale
Bequeathed by Sir William Orpen 1932
actions: processes and functions
adults
artist, painter
arts and entertainment
author
chair
Chelsea, The Vale
domestic
England
evening
fireplace
furnishings
glass
group
groups
groups
heating and lighting
Hutchinson, Mary St John, née Barnes
Hutchinson, St John, ‘Jack’
interiors
kitchen
leisure and pastimes
literary
living room
man
mirror
Moore, George
music and entertainment
named individuals
objects
people
places
portraits
reading
recital
recreational activities
screen
self-portraits
sleeping
soda syphon
Steer, Philip Wilson
times of the day
Tonks, Henry
UK countries and regions
UK London
vessels and containers
woman
work and occupations
painting oil paint canvas
Saturday Night in the Vale
support: 514 × 610 mm
Bequeathed by Sir William Orpen 1932
<p><b>N04614</b> SATURDAY NIGHT IN THE VALE 1928–9
<br/>
<br/>Inscr. ‘Henry Tonks’ b.r.
<br/>Bequeathed by Sir William Orpen 1932.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Purchased by Orpen from the artist 1929.
<br/><i>Exh:</i>
N.E.A.C., November 1929 (70); <i>Anthology of English Painting, 1900–1931</i>, French Gallery, November 1931 (68), as ‘George Moore Reading, No. 1’; Tate Gallery, October–November 1936 (20).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Hone, 1939, pp.54 and 217–19; William Rothenstein, <i>Since Fifty</i>, 1939, pp.63–4.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Apollo</i>, XXIV, 1936, p.302; <i>Studio</i>, CXIII, 1937, p.87; Hesketh Hubbard, <i>A Hundred Years of British Painting 1851–1951</i>, 1951, pl.69.</p>
<p>Often known as ‘An Evening in the Vale’. Painted at the request of Sir William Orpen, the picture represents George Moore reading aloud from his manuscript of <i>Aphrodite in Aulis</i>, a novel which he published in 1930, to his friends on one of his regular Saturday evening visits to Tonks's studio in The Vale, Chelsea. The audience consists of, from left to right, St John Hutchinson, Philip Wilson Steer (dozing in the arm-chair), Tonks (standing by the mantel- piece) and Mrs Mary St John Hutchinson. 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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> occupied much of the artist's thought and time, and appears to have taken a year to achieve. Moore was most disgruntled with the result and described his own appearance in the picture as that of a ‘flabby old cook’, noting that at the same time Tonks had represented himself as a young and elegant ‘demi-god’. A second version was acquired by the Hon. Mrs Leverton Harris and was exhibited as ‘George Moore Reading, No. 2’ at the French Gallery, 1931 (69).</p>
<p>See also <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/tonks-sodales-mr-steer-and-mr-sickert-t00040" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T00040</span></a>, a similar picture from the same years.</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</p>
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Catalogue entry
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: processes and functions adults artist, painter arts and entertainment author chair Chelsea, The Vale domestic England evening fireplace furnishings glass group groups groups heating and lighting Hutchinson, Mary St John, née Barnes Hutchinson, St John, ‘Jack’ interiors kitchen leisure and pastimes literary living room man mirror Moore, George music and entertainment named individuals objects people places portraits reading recital recreational activities screen self-portraits sleeping soda syphon Steer, Philip Wilson times of the day Tonks, Henry UK countries and regions UK London vessels and containers woman work and occupations