Lot 82: Robert Sawyers (1923-2002)

Robert Sawyers (1923-2002)
The Tram Ride
signed with initials 'RS' (lower left)
oil on canvas
22½ x 29½ in. (57.2 x 74.9 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Bonhams, London, 26 September 2007, lot 56.

The present work was probably painted sometime between 1947 and 1950
while Sawyers was teaching in Leeds.

The painting is based on a story told by the artist's mother, who,
during the war in London, saw a schoolboy on a tram with an enamel
chamber pot stuck on his head (see the middle character on the right). The boy's mother was taking him to hospital to have it removed and she was so embarrassed that she put his school cap on top of the pot.