Paul Drury, four more etchings

In recent months I have been excited to add four more Paul Drury etchings to the collection. The first, a recent purchase is followed by three exquisite etchings which were a generous gift from an overseas colleague and friend.

The first etching titled “On Box Hill” 1933 is annotated on the etching as a third state. After reflecting on this and consulting Robin Garton’s catalogue raisonné it seems that it may be an impression from the final (9th) state which was printed in a small edition of about twenty impressions. In the year the etching was made Drury produced two other etchings, “Woodland Path”, and “March Morning” (a plate dedicated to F.L.Griggs)

In Jolyon Drury’s, “Revelation to Revolution- The Legacy of Samuel Palmer” (2006), the author explains how “On Box Hill” and “Woodland Path” are Drury’s response to Sutherland’s “Wood Interior [etching 1928] with his trees becoming more sinuous, prototypes for work twenty years on.”  The author describes that in comparison to “Wood Interior” Drury’s prints are “sunny not dark.”

In both of Drury’s etchings of Box Hill, there is a lightness of touch which describes the complexity of the dappled shadows formed from the effect of the strong sunlight bouncing through the trees. The plants seem to bask in the sunlight. The artist uses sinuous etched lines in the shrubs and trees and in foreground section of “On Box Hill” to describe the growth and lushness of the landscape he was experiencing. 

On Box Hill 1933

The two etchings illustrated below titled “Mickleham Yews III” and “Forms in a Wood” were both made in 1950-1 and are part of a series that Drury began in the late 1940’s. The early etchings of the series were made on zinc plates while “Mickleham Yews III” and ”Forms in a Wood” were on copper. Both etchings are printed in a warm black ink which helps to bring warmth to these mysterious images. These etchings relate well to each other. Both seem to enclose the viewer and tempt them to enter the complex layers of foliage into a central patch of sunlight while also warning them of the possible danger they may experience if they act.

Mickleham Yews III, 1950

 In the “Mickleham Yews III” a large leaf sits like a jewel basking in the sunlight in the central section but to get to the leaf one needs to pass the trunk of a tree with its hostile teeth bared. Beyond the leaf the path continues around a large tree into another area of sunlight in the distance. In “Revelation to Revolution-The Legacy of Samuel Palmer” Jolyon Drury suggests that this plate, “ is a true bridge from his pre-war pastoral work, now exploring bold forms such as the inverted leaf out of proportion and startlingly illuminated by the otherwise sombre pathway.”  (Drury, 2006: 155)

Forms in a Wood 1950-51

“Forms in a Wood”, a soft ground etching which followed is spatially more ambiguous. Its overlapping forms create a mysterious world inhabited by organic forms twisting through the forest floor and canopy.  Instead of the crocodile like form barring the way in “Mickleham Yews III”  the traveller entering “Forms in the Wood" must pass through a different obstacle. 

  Printmaker and writer Michael Blaker remarks on this in his commentary accompanying Robin Garton’s Memorial portfolio (1996)

“In ‘Forms in the Wood’ we can see the most delicate biting as the sun strikes through and a daring strength in the contrasting darks of the foreground leaves. There is a strange element of lyrical surrealism about the mysterious plate, and the gentle quality seems offset by the sinister piece of barbed wire looming up and round like a threatening snake” (Drury, 2006: 157)

French Cemetery 1938

 The last plate I’m included in this post is the beautiful and poignant etching Drury made in 1938 titled “French Cemetery” made many years before the “Mickleham” series.  Its complex structure incorporates the use of delicate hard ground line in conjunction with subtle deftly controlled passages of aquatint.  This ranges from the lightest of greys to darker areas of intense shadows. To my eye some of the delicate areas of aquatint were achieved through spit biting while other areas with harder edges were shaped through an acid resistant block out. 

In his commentary accompanying Robin Garton’s Memorial portfolio (1996) Michael Blaker perceptively notes that French Cemetery is one of the most,

“out –of- character images of Drury’s work. Not that it lacks (of course) expertise, observation and powerful originality- and Drury’s work is always full of interest- but it can be so disturbed… the anguish in the Cemetery is not merely to do with the subject. It is positively fierce. The stone head of the dead Frenchman on the marble scroll is like a Munich era premonition of the fall of France.” (Drury, 2006: 114)

Joseph Webb

Joseph Webb 1908-1962

I first saw Joseph Webb’s etching Rat Barn (1928) in the mid 80’s through British Print dealer Elizabeth Harvey-Lee. I remember being struck by the dark gothic grandeur of the building as it rose up from the primordial stone cliffs in the foreground. I also responded to the way the artist had built up the rich blacks through a series of successive etches of overlaid lines. It has taken many years for me to acquire these three works by this artist as they seem quite difficult to track down.

In Joseph Webb, the lights that flit across my brain by Robert Meyrick 2007, the author notes that Webb often made journeys to various parts of the UK to visually record  aspects of Britian’s architectural heritage which may have been threatened by development. He was a solitary person who often made these journeys on foot.

Like Drury and Sutherland Joseph Webb was also influenced by the etchings of the senior artist F.L. Griggs and his interest and love for ancient architecture.  Webb visited him at Chipping Campden in 1929.

 “Griggs taught Webb to mix warm black inks and convinced him of the virtues of using antique laid papers… Both artists shared a love for ancient buildings and their works convey similar religious and mystical concerns. Griggs became the principal contemporary influence on Webb’s etchings. He not only demonstrated to Webb his wiping and printing techniques- taking impressions of Rat Barn and Dream Barn- but imparted his enthusiasm but imparted his enthusiasm for the emotional power of Samuel palmer’s work.” (Meyrick, 2007:P16, 18 ) 

Chepstow 1928

 In the summer of 1928 Webb travelled to Gloucestershire and Southeast Wales returning along the West Sussex coast. While in Wales Webb travelled along the Wye Valley walk where he made several drawings including Chepstow from the cliff and Chepstow which he subsequently made into etchings later that year. (Meyrick, 2007)

 The rich impression of Chepstow on wove paper is from the first state. It was subsequently issued in an edition of 50 and is from the Ex collection of Beryl Gasgoyne and Jane Furst.

Ann Hathaway's Cottage 1945

This recent acquisition is the fourth state and trial proof of Ann Hathaway's Cottage, a favourite subject for many artists. In aspite of the accuracy of the subject, Webb is still able to imbue it with a sense of mystery through the exceptional treatment of the moonlight sky and the romantic light  which illuminates the thatched roof, wall and ssurrounding folliage.

Landscape River Scene C1938

This unfinished etching is one of Webb’s largest. The etching was printed in an edition of 30 by Clive Vosper in 1987 and with Beryl Gascoigne’s estate stamp recto and Inscribed by the printer in pencil.

Robin Tanner

The notion of place is important to many artists. Significant places become a stimulus for their creativity and a means of focusing their attention on parts of the environment they form special bonds with. In the work of Robin Tanner who was born in Bristol in 1904, the area of North West Wiltshire became a place of personal significance and reflection. From as early as 1927 many of his etchings are based on an idealistic unspoiled view of the Wiltshire landscape. Since their marriage in 1931 Robin and his wife Heather lived at Old Chapel Field in the village of Kington Langley, Wiltshire.  

The Road Maker, etching 1928 (first edition)

 In 1924 while Robin Tanner taught at Blackheath Road Boys School in Greenwich by day, he became an evening student at Goldsmiths College London under the instruction of Stanley Anderson.  While at Goldsmiths he became friends with many of the day students including Paul Drury took Tanner under his wing.  He invited him home to Lancaster Lodge to meet his father, the artist, Alfred Drury and was instrumental in introducing him to a number of other artists and print dealers such as David Strang and John Nicholson. In 1928 Tanner became a full time student at Goldsmiths. In that same year he also bought the Old Chapel Field property at Wiltshire.

The Hedger, etching 1928 (first edition)

The first two etchings included, “The Road Maker” and “The Hedger”1928 were among Tanners earliest and were intended to be part of a series on the theme of country labours. The “Woodman” was the only other etching in the series to be completed.  Both etchings show the influence of the Goldsmiths students as well as of Palmer and Griggs but in particular of Griggs.  Tanner met Griggs on varnishing day at the Royal academy in 1929.

In many of Tanners later etchings like” Gray’s Elegy” 1980, illustrated (from the memorial portfolio),  a combination of natural and rustic man made forms  frame the view into a distant often moonlit  field  of hedgerows, villages and forests. 

Gray's Elergy, 1980 (from the memorial portfolio)

John Wills

I occasionally purchase unknown etchings because something about them is very appealing. It draws me in. Initially I am often not sure why I respond to such works, but my reaction is to purchase them initially and find more about them at a later time when I come across more information. Our personal response to images may be triggered by something about an image which touches us personally or our knowledge of other works which are similar in style or content that link the work in question to others that have come before.

Piper, 1936

Such is the case in point with the two John Wills etchings on this post. When I found these etchings I was immediately drawn into the Palmer like world he had created within these small works.  In “the Piper” etching the musician plays his tune to mysterious figure inside one of the small rustic cottages in the valley.   The other etching “The High Hedge” or “Twilight of the World”?  (1936) also contains elements of rustic villages and exotic foliage and an illuminating lantern in the foreground. Both etching have a miniature jewel  like quality that are reminiscent of the primitive quality of some of the work produced by the Ancients during their time in Shoreham.

The High hedge, 1936

I know very little about the artist  but I  know that John Wills studied at the Royal College of Art sometime in the 30’s under the instruction of Robert Austin and Malcolm Osborne.  After leaving college he lived and worked in Gloucestershire.

Revelation to Revolution

In an earlier post I discussed the importance of the artist Paul Drury and made mention of some of his early prints made while he was a student of Goldsmiths College in during the early 20s. The information following is an overview of an important book written by Jolyon Drury on the etching revival during this period and gives the reader a rare insight into the work of Drury and his colleagues.

Revelation to Revolution: The Legacy of Samuel Palmer

The Revival and Evolution of Pastoral Printmaking by Paul Drury and the Goldsmith's School in the 20th Century. By Jolyon Drury

This book describes the revival of pastoral printmaking by the group of etchers who were students at Goldsmiths College in the 1920s including Paul Drury, Graham Sutherland, William Larkins, Edward Bouverie-Hoyton and Alexander Walker. It traces their influences, the evolution of their technique and this group’s later development through the eyes of Paul Drury. It is also a tale of the close and complicated relationship between Drury and his father, the sculptor Alfred Drury RA, and of their artist friends and colleagues representative of their age spanning a little over a century.

The Goldsmiths group’s interest in Samuel Palmer coincided with the first important exhibition of his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1926, when these young artists were picked out for working in a similar but more contemporary style merging Palmer’s ideas with the approach of F.L. Griggs from fully two years before. This testimonial greatly assisted the group to early success, with their impressions much sought after in the American market. This account follows Paul Drury and the Goldsmiths group’s careers through their early success, through the set-back of the Depression, through their revival in the 1930s, through the Second World War and through the revolutionary 1960s. English printmaking flourished as result of this turbulent period with Drury guiding the R. E. through major reforms to reunite the generations and styles of printmaking into the cohesive body that it is today.

After Work, etching, Paul Drury 1926

To find out more or to place an order for the book please email:
ronald.mcburnie@jcu.edu.au (in Australia) 
 jolyon.drury@btinternet.com (in the UK)