Physical Energy

Beef Tea

Caricature of the Old Watts Working on 'Physical Energy'

drawing height: 24 cm
drawing width: 27.5 cm
mount height: 31.5 cm
mount width: 39.5 cm

Physical Energy, also known as 'Beef Tea' or 'Caricature of the Old Watts Working on 'Physical Energy''; sculpture of 'Physical Energy' in the centre with Watts and his nurse on the right; caricature study of G. F. Watts working on the allegorical (symbolist) sculpture of a seated, nude male figure on a horse (animal). One of a series of caricatures of artists. These caricatures spanned Old Masters such as Durer and Rembrandt, impressionists, Gauguin with Van Gogh, and British artists, like Stubbs. In the 1930s Bliss made a series of caricatures of Victorian artists at a time when the work of these artists was less fashionable. Bliss had two London exhibitions associated with this body of work: Lefevre Gallery 1934, Humorous Drawings: Botticelli to Renoir, and Leger Galleries 1937, Masterpieces in the Making.