The William Roberts Society

William Roberts:

T. F. Powys

Illustration © The Estate of John David Roberts. Reproduced with the permission of the William Roberts Society. Catalogue information based on the catalogue raisonné by David Cleall. For this and full details of the exhibitions cited, see the links below.

T. F. Powys, 1926
Pencil, 31.8 cm x 20.3 cm

Theodore Francis Powys (1875–1953), was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, the third of eleven children of a clergyman, and a grandchild of two other clergymen. His brothers included the writers John Cowper Powys and Llewelyn Powys. In 1879 his father took up a post in Dorchester, and Theodore was educated there, at Sherborne and then in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. From 1895 he farmed near Sweffling in Suffolk, before in 1901 returning to Dorset to read and write. This drawing, for which Roberts visited Powys's home in Chaldon Herring in July 1926, was used as a frontispiece both to New Coterie no. 4 (autumn 1926) and to two stories collected as T. F. Powys, A Strong Girl and The Bride (London: E. Archer, 1926).
PROVENANCE: Christie's 23 Mar. 2011 (£1,750) > National Portrait Gallery
EXHIBITION HISTORY: Plymouth 1938, Hull 1956, City of Bradford Art Gallery (date unknown)