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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Damian Barr

‘They had everything, then nothing’: the prodigies the art world forgot

Robert MacBryde (left) and Robert Colquhoun in their studio, photographed by Felix Man in around 1945.
Robert MacBryde (left) and Robert Colquhoun in their studio, photographed by Felix Man in around 1945. Photograph: Felix Man/Getty Images

The world is burning. Fascism is rising. Countries are falling. And we’re on the brink of incredible technological change, which will either be the end of everything or a new beginning. So, who needs artists?

An August night in 1944. Robert Colquhoun’s hand shakes as he lights a candle in the blacked-out Notting Hill studio shared with his lover, fellow artist, Robert “Bobby” MacBryde. They are known – from Soho alleys to Bond Street galleries – as the Two Roberts: inseparable, incandescent, often in trouble. Where is Bobby tonight? The Colony Room Club, probably. Safe, Robert hopes. Though never from himself. Bombers prowl the skies above. Who will survive the night? “Fuck it,” Robert mutters, fag dancing on his lip. And he picks up his brush.

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