They say that you can take the boy out of the East End, but you can never take the East End out of the boy. Superficially there are always exceptions, and Mark Gertler appears to be one of them. Gertler was one of a generation of Anglo-Jewish artists all born in the years 1890-92, either just before or just after their Yiddish-speaking parents had arrived in Britain from somewhere in the Russian borderlands.  John Russell Taylor

The most prominent, Gertler, Bomberg, Meninsky, and Rosenberg, all found themselves at the Slade School in 1912 where Gertler also became friendly with Stanley Spencer. They all followed the example of Augustus John who reigned supreme. Gertler's talent and good looks brought him into the Bloomsbury circle where he became involved with Dora Carrington. He was also on good terms with Nevinson, the Nash brothers, Allinson and Duncan Grant later on. However, his closest friends during his student years were Bomberg and Meninsky and the latter remained close to him throughout his life when he was abandoned by everyone else.

To coincide with the Gertler Retrospective exhibition at the Ben Uri Gallery, the Boundary Gallery is holding an exhibition that will shed further light to Gertler's career. We shall have on display some important early works by Gertler including two self portraits, Harry with Apple as well as three portraits of Dora Carrington and a remarkable 1923 drawing illustrated above. His circle will be represented by works by David Bomberg, Bernard Meninsky, Stanley Spencer, John Nash, Duncan Grant, Isaac Rosenberg, Adrian Allinson and Augustus John.