Watercolour of the interior of the Old Grand Theatre, now the Gaumont Hippodrome, Colchester, by Walter Bayes; from the 'Recording Britain' Collection; England, ca.1940.

A watercolour drawing of the view from one of the boxes, or the gallery, of the Old Grand Theatre in Colchester, showing one box but focusing on the oyster shell and pearl pendant decoration above the proscenium arch of the stage; signed.

Given by the Pilgrim Trust

Walter Bayes was a minor member of the Camden Town Group, and this watercolour demonstrates his debt to the group's chief exponent, Walter Sickert. However, whereas Sickert's theatre scenes usually concentrate on the faces of the audience in boxes lit by flaring gas jets, Bayes's paler watercolour emphasises the sparkling surfaces of the theatre's elaborate Victorian decor, particularly the oyster and pearl motif above the stage. This was a reference to local pride, Colchester having long been famous for its oysters.

This work is from the ‘Recording Britain’ collection of topographical watercolours and drawings made in the early 1940s during the Second World War. In 1940 the Committee for the Employment of Artists in Wartime, part of the Ministry of Labour and National Service, launched a scheme to employ artists to record the home front in Britain, funded by a grant from the Pilgrim Trust. It ran until 1943 and some of the country’s finest watercolour painters, such as John Piper, Sir William Russell Flint and Rowland Hilder, were commissioned to make paintings and drawings of buildings, scenes, and places which captured a sense of national identity. Their subjects were typically English: market towns and villages, churches and country estates, rural landscapes and industries, rivers and wild places, monuments and ruins. Northern Ireland was not covered, only four Welsh counties were included, and a separate scheme ran in Scotland.

The scheme was known as ‘Recording the changing face of Britain’ and was established by Sir Kenneth Clark, then the director of the National Gallery. It ran alongside the official War Artists’ Scheme, which he also initiated. Clark was inspired by several motives: at the outbreak of war in 1939, there was a concern to document the British landscape in the face of the imminent threat of bomb damage, invasion, and loss caused by the operations of war. This was allied to an anxiety about changes to the landscape already underway, such as the rapid growth of cities, road building and housing developments, the decline of rural ways of life and industries, and new agricultural practices, which together contributed to the idea of a ‘vanishing Britain’. Clark also wanted to help artists, and the traditional forms of British art such as watercolour painting, to survive during the uncertain conditions of wartime. He in turn was inspired by America’s Federal Arts Project which was designed to give artists employment during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Over 1500 works were eventually produced by 97 artists, of whom 63 were specially commissioned. At the time the collection had a propaganda role, intended to boost national morale by celebrating Britain’s landscapes and heritage. Three exhibitions were held during the war at the National Gallery, and pictures from the collection were sent on touring exhibitions and to galleries all around the country. After the war, the whole collection was given to the V&A by the Pilgrim Trust in 1949, and it was documented in a four volume catalogue published between 1946 and 1949. For many years the majority of the collection was on loan to councils and record offices in each county, until recalled by the V&A around 1990. The pictures now form a memorial to the war effort, and a unique record of their time.

Historical significance: The Old Grand Theatre (now the Gaumont Hippodrome) was one of relatively few Edwardian theatres to escape post-war demolition, being converted into a cinema and then a bingo hall. Within the last twenty years the splendid interior has been restored and the theatre converted into a nightclub.

Victorian and Edwardian theatres were lost to dereliction and new development in great numbers following the war. At the time Bayes painted this view, the Colchester Theatre (which opened in 1905) was nearing the end of its life as a theatre.

Walter Bayes was a founding, but minor, member of the Camden Town Group, and this watercolour in particular demonstrates his debt to the group's leader, Walter Sickert. Music hall and theatre interiors were a favourite subject of Sickert, but whereas he preferred to concentrate on the eerie effects of flaring gas jets on the faces of performers and audience members, Bayes's pale watercolour tones emphasise the blazing lights and sparkling surfaces of the pink, white, and gilt decor of this Edwardian theatre. The elaborate shell and pearl motif above the stage pays tribute to local pride -- Colchester has long been known for its oysters.

The Old Grand Theatre opened in Colchester in 1905, as the Grand Palace of Varieties. By the time Bayes painted this scene, the theatre was nearing the end of its existence as a venue for live performance. Many Victorian and Edwardian theatres were lost to dereliction and postwar development, but the Old Grand Theatre was relatively lucky: it became in turn a cinema and a bingo hall, before being restored inside and out in the 1980s and given a new lease on life as a nightclub.

E.1367-1949