'The Stairway' is one of a series possibly depicting the stairway within the Ghetto Theatre, one of Bomberg's favourite subjects at the time.

Two books on the artist, Richard Cork, 'David Bomberg', Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1987, and William Lipke, 'David Bomberg', Evelyn, Adams & Mackay Ltd, London 1967, give an explanation of this series of Bomberg drawings. A monumental series 'done as a relief from concentrated work on the memorial panel. They were in fine paper in ink and washes and line'. Like a 'frieze of life' constructed of many variations, these pen and wash drawings represent one of Bomberg's most articulate and complete artistic statements.

The artist's family.