About this artwork

Joseph Brewer was secretary to the editor of The Spectator magazine, for which the artist worked as art critic from 1923 to 1926. The vivid colours, metallic sheen and sculptural, robotic forms are typical of McCance's work of this period. In the early 1920s he began to schematize the human body, stripping it of detail, until it acquired a machine-like appearance. Many of McCance's paintings and drawings show figures reading, which may reflect his own work as a writer, his keen intellectual spirit and his interest in book design.

Updated before 2020

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William McCance

William McCance