David Bomberg was born in Birmingham to Polish - Jewish immigrant parents. When he was five his family moved to London and settled in the East End. He trained as a lithographer before studying painting at the Westminster School of Art, followed by the Slade School of Fine Art.

Bomberg's cubist works of 1912-14, such as Ju-Jitsu and In the Hold, (Tate Gallery), made a tremendous impression on the limited number of critics and collectors who were able to appreciate them, although their daring modernism remained beyond the understanding of the general public of the time.

During World War I, Bomberg served in the army from 1915-19. After the war, the artist was commissioned by the Canadian Government to make a memorial for the Canadian army, which resulted in his masterpiece, Sappers under Hill 60. A number of preparatory drawings for this work will be included in the exhibition.

On his return, Bomberg painted a major work of Jewish interest, his 'Ghetto Theatre' of 1920 (Ben Uri Gallery, London). This depicted the crowds who flocked to the Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel where classics were performed in Yiddish. Two associated drawings will be on show.

Between 1923-27, Bomberg made several trips to Palestine, financed by the Palestine Foundation Fund, to record the achievements of the Jewish settlers there. During the 1930's, he lived and painted in Spain where he recorded the landscape in a spectacular series of works on canvas and in charcoal.

By World War II, his early achievements had been forgotten and he found himself increasingly isolated. His one official war commission was to paint an underground bomb store. From this seemingly unpromising subject, Bomberg produced a series of drawings and paintings remarkable for their threatening power. The sense of foreboding in these works was later borne out when the bomb store exploded, killing many people.

After the war, the artist taught at the Borough Polytechnic and subsequently formed The Borough Group. His classes were attended by Auerbach, Kossoff and Creffield, all of whom were influenced by his teaching. Since his death, Bomberg has been accorded two solo exhibitions at the Tate Gallery (1967, 1988). His works are in all the major public collections in Britain and abroad.

Biography

1890 Born on 5 December in Birmingham

1895-1913 Practiced drawing from the age of 14 in the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum

1905 Apprenticed to lithographer Paul Fischer but, in 1908 he left to become an artist

1908-1910 Attended evening classes at the City and Guilds School and Sickert's evening classes at Westminster School of Art

1911-1913 Studied at the Slade School where he won a certificate for drawing in1912. The poet Isaac Rosenberg was a friend and fellow-student

1912-1915 His powerful use of cubism brings him much acclaim for works such as 'In the Hold' and 'Ju-Jitsu', both now collection Tate Gallery.

1913 Founder member of the London Group. Visit to Paris where he met Picasso, Modigliani, and Kisling

1915-1918 Served in Royal Engineers

1923 Left for Palestine

1924 Six-month expedition to Petra

1927 Return from Palestine

1929 Exhibition at Ruskin Gallery, Birmingham. First visit to Spain

1930 Visited Morocco and the Greek Islands

1932 Painting expeditions to Scotland and Derbyshire accompanied by Lilian Holt, another painter whom he later married

1933 Six-month visit to Russia

1934-35 Spent 18 months in Spain

1943-46 Taught drawing at the Borough Polytechnic, London

1944 Painting expedition to Exmoor and North Devon

1945 Obtained a teaching post at a school in Dagenham

1945-49 Taught drawing one day a week at the Bartlett School of Architecture

1947 Formation of the Borough Group; a few pupils grouped around Bomberg

1948 Visit to Cyprus

1953 Formation of the Borough Bottega; pupils group around Bomberg

Borough Bottega exhibits at the Berkeley Galleries, London

1954-57 Lived in Spain

1957 Became ill in Spain, taken to hospital in Gibraltar and died in London on 19 August

Bibliography

1919 Russian Ballet published with text and illustrations by Bomberg, published by Hendersons, The Bomb Shop, Cecil Court, London

1967 William Lipke, David Bomberg,a critical study of his life and work, London, Evelyn, Adams & Mackay Ltd.

1976 Richard Cork, Vorticism and Abstract Art in the First Machine Age, Gordon Fraser, London

Richard Cork, Vorticism and Abstract Art in the First Machine Age, Gordon Fraser, London

1988 Richard Cork, David Bomberg, Tate Gallery catalogue

1992 Poems and Drawings from the First World War, by David Bomberg, London: Gillian Jason Gallery with foreword by Neville Jason and contribution by Richard Cork. This was also a book published by Yale University Press

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1914 First one-man show of 55 pictures at the Chenil Galleries, Chelsea. Exhibited 5 pictures at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, London in "Twentieth Century Art"

1923 Exhibition of pen and wash drawings at Heal's Mansard Gallery, London

1928 Leicester Galleries, London

1929 Ruskin Gallery, Birmingham

1932 Bloomsbury Gallery, London

1936 Cooling Galleries, London

1943 Leger Gallery, London

1983 David Bomberg: Drawings, Watercolours, Oils on paper, Gillian Jason Gallery

1988 Retrospective at the Tate Gallery, London. Richard Cork, David Bomberg, Tate Gallery catalogue

David Bomberg: Works on Paper, Gillian Jason Gallery, London

1990-91 David Bomberg, Works on Paper, Gillian Jason Gallery, London

1992 David Bomberg: Drawings 1914-1919, Gillian Jason Gallery, London, to mark the publication of Poems and Drawings from the First World War

Selected Group Exhibitions

1948 Second Annual Exhibition of the Borough Group. Bomberg exhibits with his students

1949 Third Annual Exhibition of the Borough Group, including pictures by Bomberg. Borough Group dissolves later that year

1954-55 Exhibition of the Borough Bottega at several galleries, including works by Bomberg.

Collections

In the collections of City of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; City Art Gallery of Leeds; Arts Council of Great Britain; British Museum; Imperial War Museum, London; Museum of London; The Tate Gallery; Victoria & Albert Museum; City Art Gallery of Manchester; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Jewish Museum, New York, and may other museums worldwide