The Roof Gardens

Anxious to sample New York’s famous nightlife C. R. W. Nevinson asked his American salesman to take him to a popular roof garden. The salesman denied any knowledge of roof gardens claiming he always went ‘straight home to his wife’ after work. Upon visiting the roof garden later that evening Nevinson recognised his salesman ‘dancing happily about’ and addressing the dancers by their first names.

Nevinson was attracted to the theatricality and openness of New York’s clubs as they were a sharp contrast to grieving post-war Britain. But the artist’s war-time experiences are present in this roof garden with the angular spotlights echoing the searchlights of his First World War landscapes.

Royal Holloway and Bedford New College Art Collections. Acquired on the merger with Bedford College, 1985 (P1518)