Walter Sickert: the man, the myth, the (dark) legend Walter Richard, "Sickert Brighton Pierrots", 1915. Tate. From 28 April to 18 September 2022, Tate Britain presents the largest retrospective of the artist Walter Sickert (1860-1942) in almost 30 years. Source: Tate. Image: Walter Richard, "Sickert Brighton Pierrots", 1915. Tate. Born in Germany but raised in the UK, Walter Sickert was one of those artists of a hardly classifiable style, influenced by both realism and impressionism, who are often grouped under the somewhat misleading label of "post-impressionists". However, Sickert's artistic achievement has been obscured in recent decades by the hypothesis (championed among others by the novelist Patricia Cornwell) that Walter Sickert was the (in)famous Jack the Ripper, a hypothesis based on the artist's own interest in the figure of the notorious serial killer. Beyond this dark legend, the very extensive retrospective at Tate Britain includes more than 150 works by the artist, including 10 of his self-portraits. One of Sickert's favourite subjects, the music hall, is a key focus of the exhibition. According to a press release from Tate Britain, although the subjects of Sickert's music hall scenes "were deemed inappropriate by much of the British art world at the time, they took inspiration from the café-concert subjects of celebrated French artists such as Edouard Manet and the ballet subjects of Edgar Degas, a close friend and key influence on Sickert after they met in Paris in the 1880s". In addition, the exhibition "will be the first to explore the impact of another of Sickert’s key influences, from his time as an assistant in the studio of renowned American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Paintings by both artists, including Whistler’s A Shop 1884-90 and Sickert’s A Shop in Dieppe 1886-8 will be brought together, as well as Whistler’s 1895 portrait of Sickert himself, to reveal how the young artist was inspired by his mentor’s atmospheric tonal style and urban subjects. The show will examine how Sickert went on to create series of works that experimented with how changing light transformed the facades of famous buildings in some of his favourite cities, including Dieppe and Venice".

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