—
He studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, London (1896–1899), where he
met Harold Gilman, who became a close friend. In 1902 he visited Spain with
another Slade contemporary, Wyndham Lewis, and two years later he visited
Sickert in Dieppe. From that time on his work was influenced by French art,
and Gore learnt much about Degas’s paintings through Sickert’s teaching.
After Sickert’s return to London in 1905 Gore frequently accompanied him
to music halls and made them the subject of several paintings, for example
The Mad Pierrot Ballet, the Alhambra (1905) — {Any Gore gore
to be seen?}As a founder-member of the Fitzroy Street Group, Gore came into contact with Lucien Pissarro, whose Impressionist method he adopted in his garden scenes and in The Cricket Match (1909). With Gilman and others he helped found the Allied Artists' Association and was also involved in the formation of the Camden town group in 1911. After seeing Roger Fry's Post-Impressionist exhibitions of 1910 and 1912, he was one of the first Camden Town artists to switch from an Impressionist-based technique to one that comes closer in appearance to stained glass. It is first seen in landscapes he painted at Letchworth in summer 1912, for instance in the insistent pattern-making in The Beanfield; he later gave way to the influence of Cézanne, employing a more complex orchestration of form following his move from Camden Town to Richmond, Surrey, in 1913. In 1912 he directed the mural decorations at the nightclub, ‘The Cave of the Golden Calf’.
— LINKS
— Inez and Taki (41x51cm) _ The title of this picture is the name of a double act Gore saw at the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square. The couple are playing lyre guitars, an instrument common in the early nineteenth century, but by this date an eccentric choice. Gore was fascinated by the magic of the music hall, and frequently chose unexpected routines as subjects. He went to the theatre several times each week, and made sketches from his seat in the audience. Each composition required many visits to capture the precise moment of the performance. The edge of a balcony is seen here framing the composition, and this unusual perspective increases the odd atmosphere of the scene.
— Rule Britannia (1910, 76x63cm) _ Gore was fascinated by the theatre, ballet and music hall, and from his seat in the audience he made sketchbook drawings on which he based paintings. Rule Britannia shows the finale of the immensely popular patriotic ballet Our Flag, which opened at the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, in December 1909. It starred the Danish ballerina Britta Petersen, shown here in her Union Jack tutu performing the final dance. Gore emphasises the unusual colors of the stage lighting, contrasted with the dullness of the auditorium.
— Ballet Scene (1911, 38x28cm)
— Mornington Crescent (1911, 63x76cm)
— Applehayes (1909)
— Houghton Place (1912, 51x61cm)
— Letchworth (1912, 51x61cm)
