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>
Family
Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 2000
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
cat
chair
children
clothing and personal items
domestic
electrical appliances
family
family
furnishings
girl
heating and lighting
interiors
leisure and pastimes
light / lamp
living room
man
night
objects
people
pipe
radio
recreational activities
sitting
smoking
society
standing
talking
times of the day
woman
<p>In this ordinary living room a man is shown adjusting a wireless and looking towards his wife who sits beside him knitting. A younger woman, presumably their daughter, looks up from doing her homework on the table. The pictures on the wall, plant on the mantelpiece and cat on the hearth rug indicate the cosiness of their surroundings and their status as middle class. However the date of the print is portentous, and the family may be tuning in to reports about the political situation in Europe which would shortly escalate in to world war. <span>The Family </span>is one of a series of lithographs Boswell made in 1939. Other scenes include a cinema (Tate P11669), a railway station (Tate P11667) and the oratory in Hyde Park. Feaver describes the series: ‘This is 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>
paper print lithograph
The Family
image: 187 × 191 mm
Presented by Ruth Boswell, the artist's widow 2000
<p>In this ordinary living room a man is shown adjusting a wireless and looking towards his wife who sits beside him knitting. A younger woman, presumably their daughter, looks up from doing her homework on the table. The pictures on the wall, plant on the mantelpiece and cat on the hearth rug indicate the cosiness of their surroundings and their status as middle class. However the date 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/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> is portentous, and the family may be tuning in to reports about the political situation in Europe which would shortly escalate in to world war. <i>The Family </i>is one 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. Other scenes 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 railway station (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-station-p11667" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11667</span></a>) and the oratory in Hyde Park. Feaver describes the series: ‘This is 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).
<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>Many of these prints are political satires and are an attempt to expose class injustices, for example <i>Empire Builders </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-empire-builders-p01823" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P01823</span></a>)<i>. </i>By contrast, <i>The Family, </i>reveals Boswell’s fascination with the life of ordinary people in London, and his ability to create original images of his 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, exploited the effects of print-making to capture contemporary London life.
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<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
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<br/>Heather Birchall 
<br/>January 2004
<br/></p>

Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals cat chair children clothing and personal items domestic electrical appliances family family furnishings girl heating and lighting interiors leisure and pastimes light / lamp living room man night objects people pipe radio recreational activities sitting smoking society standing talking times of the day woman