Sarah

William Patrick Roberts 05/06/1895 - 20/01/1980

Summary

Frontal head and chest portrait of the artist's wife, Sarah Roberts. The subject is a young woman with thick, dark hair in a short bob; she wears a plain round neck dress and her head is turned looking off to the left. The subject sits with her body facing the viewer, against a plain indistinct background.

Display Label

Sarah 1922 William Roberts 1895 – 1980 Oil on canvas Sarah came from a highly intellectual Jewish family who had left their native Russia to settle in Leeds. Through her elder brother, the painter Jacob Kramer, she met William Roberts, a fellow student at the Slade, then the foremost art school in London. Their meeting in the ABC teashop in Tottenham Court Road was to change both their lives. The shy painter was struck by Sarah’s exotic good looks, as well as her vivacious personality. After he returned from the front in 1918, she lived with him out of wedlock – a brave move for a woman at this period. They married the year this portrait was painted. Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1931.10