Mrs Raynes' Tea Party

Artist Henry Tonks (Solihull, England, 1862 - 1937)

AssociatedAssociated with Philip Wilson Steer (Birkenhead, England, 1860 - 1942)

AssociatedAssociated with Sir John Rothenstein (London, England, 1901 - 1992)

Date1928

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 40.5 cm, Width: 55.8 cm
Frame: Height: 55.3 cm, Width: 69.8 cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 1960 with income from the Murray Fund.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG003682

Keywords

About MeHenry Tonks is best known as a formidable teacher - from 1892 he taught at the Slade School of Art, where he tutored many of the Camden Town Group and their contemporaries including Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, William Roberts and Christopher Nevinson.

Tonks was one of the first English artists to be influenced by the French Impressionists and Post Impressionists and this painting exhibits an intimacy redolent of the interiors of Pierre Bonnard and Eduard Vuillard. The scene, in Tonks' home in Chelsea, is a tea party organised to celebrate the 80th birthday of his childhood nurse and present housekeeper, Mrs Rayne. The central figure in this cosy scene is fellow artist Wilson Steer and standing to the left holding a tea caddy is John Rothenstein, the future director of the Tate Gallery.

More About Me

Collections Wall

This depicts the 80th birthday tea party for the artist's nanny, then housekeeper. Tonks began his working life as a qualified surgeon.