Mark Gertler

Merry Go Round - Mark Gertler

One of the members of the Bloomsbury Group who is referenced in Across the Square is the artist Mark Gertler. 

Born in Spitalfields in 1891, Mark was the son of Polish Jewish immigrants. Despite showing early promise as an artist, the family’s poverty meant that Mark struggled to afford the necessary training. Finally, he was granted a scholarship from the Jewish Educational Aid Society and was accepted at the Slade in 1908 where his contemporaries included Paul Nash, CRW Nevinson and Stanley Spencer. He began to emerge as a society portrait painter but his frustration at not being able to focus on his own work meant that he fell out with potential sitters and was often impoverished. 

Like many of his generation, the First World War had a profound effect on his work. Mark was a conscientious objector and his 1916 painting Merry Go Round reflected his view of the war. Described by DH Lawrence (another member of Ottoline’s Bloomsbury Group) as ’the best modern picture I have seen’, it is now housed in Tate Britain. Mark Gertler died by suicide in 1939 leaving only £361 to his name.