In 1908, critic
Frank Rutter created the
Allied Artists Association (AAA), a group separate from the
Royal Academy artistic societies and modelled on the French
Salon des Indépendants. Many of the artists who became the Camden Town Group exhibited with the AAA. .
Mrs Mounter at the Breakfast Table, 1917 The members of the Camden Town Group included
Walter Sickert,
Harold Gilman,
Spencer Frederick Gore,
Lucien Pissarro (the son of
French Impressionist painter
Camille Pissarro),
Wyndham Lewis,
Walter Bayes,
J. B. Manson,
Robert Bevan,
Augustus John,
Henry Lamb,
Charles Ginner, and
John Doman Turner. Influences include
Vincent van Gogh and
Paul Gauguin whose work can clearly be traced throughout this group's work. Their portrayal of much of London before and during
World War I is historically interesting and artistically important. .
Mare and Foal, 1917
In the Cinema by
Malcolm Drummond is noted for its claustrophobic feeling. It is an interesting foil to the work of Sickert who painted many rowdy music hall scenes, including
Gallery of the Old Mogul (also depicting the viewers of a film). Sickert's
Ennui of 1914 is often considered the masterpiece of this group's work, with its portrayal of boredom and apathy in the mold of Flaubert and others. The group organized the exhibition of
Cubist and Post-Impressionist paintings. A major retrospective of the group's works was held at
Tate Britain in
London in 2008. The show did not include eight of the members, among them Duncan Grant, J. D. Innes, Augustus John, Henry Lamb, John Doman Turner, Wyndham Lewis and J. B. Manson, who was, according to Wendy Baron, of "too little individual character". ==Members==