John Bratby and

Kitchen Sink Art

created by
Tóth Anita Tímea and Horváth Ádám Bence
General information
• A British cultural movement
• Developed in the ‘50s and ‘60s
• Derived from an expressionist painting by John Bratby
• Paintings of kitchen objects, different portrayal of the people
• “Angry young men”
• Social realism, emphasis on the working class
A harsh, realistic style
• Depictions of poorer areas of England, explorations of taboo subjects
The life of John Bratby
• 19 July 1928 - 20 July 1992
Born: Wimbledon, London, England
• Studied art at Kingston College of Art
• Royal College of Art
• Painted landscapes, still lifes, portraits, figure compositions
• The founder of kitchen sink realism
• 1953: married Jean Cooke
• Domestically abused her, jealous of her success
Self Portrait
• Cycles of violence in their relationship 1953
• They had four children, a daughter and three sons
• 1977: divorce. Second wife: Patti Rosenburg
• Died: Hastings, Sussex, England
• His interest in art began when he was 17
• Style of harsh realism - vibrant colors, ugly and desperate faces in domestic
settings - inspired by Vincent van Gogh and Chaim Soutine
• Connections with Jack Smith, Edward Middleditch, Derrick Greaves
• Bratby’s work was an immediate success, one-man exhibitions at Beaux Arts
Gallery, London
• British representation at the Venice Biennale, along with the other kitchen
sink painters
• Won numerous awards
• Exhibitions at the Royal Academy - became a Royal Academician in ‘71
• ‘60s: beginning of portraits, in twenty years, he painted 1500+
• ‘80s: cityscapes and self-portraits
• Wrote autobiographical novels and created illustrations
 Works depicting kitchen sink
• Look Back in Anger - 1956, film: 1959
• A Taste of Honey - 1958, film: 1961
• Sparrows Can’t Sing - 1960, film: 1963
• The L-Shaped Room - 1962
• The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - 1962
• Alfie - 1963, film: 1966
• The Comedy Man - 1964
• Spring and Port Wine - 1970
 Kitchen sink realism
• (kitchen sink drama)
• Late 1950s and early 1960s
• Working class in Britain
• “angry young men”  protagonists - disillusioned with modern society
• "Kitchen Sink School" - visual arts, by art critic David Sylvester in
1954 
• Beaux Arts Quartet (John Bratby, Derrick Greaves, Edward
Middleditch and Jack Smith)
• ‘takes us back from the studio to the kitchen’
•  ‘An inventory which includes every kind of food and drink, every
utensil and implement, the usual plain furniture and even the babies’
nappies on the line. Everything but the kitchen sink – the kitchen sink
too.’
• ‘in which ordinary people cooked ordinary food and doubtless lived
their ordinary lives’. (kitchen)
Kitchen Sink Painters
• group of British artists - painted ordinary
people in scenes of everyday life. 
• In the 1950s
• Evidence of the Second World War
• Bombed houses, gardens, military bases, destruction, national service,
rented accommodation, dirt, little privacy, no comfort, no warmth
• ordinary people in scenes of everyday life
• factories, cluttered kitchens, drab interiors, unkempt backyards, and
slums, complete with garbage cans and beer bottles, toilets
Interior with fireplace and window at Greenwich
John Bratby (1957)
Derrick Greaves, Sheffield, 1953
 The Toilet Still Life with Chip Frier
John Bratby's portrait of Paul McCartney
John Bratby (1955) John Bratby (1954)
 Jack Smith Peter Coker John Bratby
Mother Bathing Child (1953) Table and Chair (1955) Jean and Table top (Girl in Yellow Jumper)
1953-1954
 Sources
• https://www.anart4life.com/the-kitchen-sink-painters/
• https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/k/kitchen-sink-painters
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_sink_realism
• https://thelondonmagazine.org/article/art-in-the-kitchen-sink/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_sink_realism
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bratby
• https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/john-bratby-ra
Thank you for attention!!!