Patrick William Roberts

Patrick Roberts kept a tiny studio in a London flat with a view of red brick walls. During the war he painted watercolours of prisoners behind those walls, using soft washes of brown and grey that somehow still let the light through. If you stand close to *Prisoners* (1939–45) you’ll notice how the paper’s buckles under the paint—he didn’t stretch it, so the room’s damp got baked into the image. He belongs in Gallery Tiles because his quiet colours ask you to look longer at what war really costs.