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Hubert Arthur Finney:
Theatre Royal Haymarket by Night, circa 1955
Framed (ref: 6323)

Signed, titled to reverse

Oil on canvas

Tags: Hubert Arthur Finney oil leisure men Metropolitan night scenes and sleep theatre transport women 1.H.A.Finney

Provenance: The Artist's Studio

Exhibited: The Lightbox, Woking, Out of the Shadows, 2020, cat 84

Finney spent a year  teaching in America (on an exchange program)  with the University of Wisconsin in the USA. living in Milwaukee. Stimulated by his new environment  he produced a vibrant body of new work inspired by  friendships with celebrated American artists such as Joe Freibert and Danny Pierce, drawing, like them scenes around Chicago. On returning to the UK the influence of his American sojourn can be clearly seen in paintings such as Theatre Royal Haymarket by Night which has many of the evocative qualities of the work of Edward Hopper

  

Nevinson, The Strand by Night

The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use. Samuel Foote acquired the lease in 1747, and in 1766 he gained a royal patent to play legitimate drama (meaning spoken drama, as opposed to opera, concerts or plays with music) in the summer months. The original building was a little further north in the same street. It has been at its current location since 1821, when it was redesigned by John Nash. It is a Grade I listed building, with a seating capacity of 888. The freehold of the theatre is owned by the Crown Estate.

The Haymarket has been the site of a significant innovation in theatre. In 1873, it was the venue for the first scheduled matinée performance, establishing a custom soon followed in theatres everywhere. Its managers have included Benjamin Nottingham Webster, John Baldwin Buckstone, Squire Bancroft, Cyril Maude, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, and John Sleeper Clarke, brother-in-law of John Wilkes Booth, who quit America after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.