This exhibition is organized and curated by Michael Thornton-Smith.

All works in the exhibition are selected from a private collection.


British Landscape Printmaking 1710-1880 is the story of the development and flowering of the Romantic movement and its engagement with the landscape. Printmaking became a vehicle for many artists who were constantly searching for new methods of personal expression in graphic media. This exhibition will show a progression from a formalized, arcadian view of the landscape to a more passionate involvement, with the rise of the Romantic Era and the depiction of the landscape of Great Britain and Western Europe. It is also within this time period we see the advent of the Industrial Revolution which was to produce one of the most fundamental changes in society; both urban and rural. To many it was seen as the beginnings of a commodification of the environment and the response by some of these artists was to disseminate an appreciation of nature and spirit of place. There will also be an attempt to bring into focus similarities with the dramatic changes and challenges that face us today. The story of British topographical printmaking in both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is a story of transition in both techniques of the medium, engagement with the landscape and responses to dramatic changes in the environment.

The painters of this era turned to graphic media, either working independently or collaborating closely with professional engravers to create some of the most compelling and immediate artistic statements of the period. This exhibition will include engraving, etching, soft-ground etching, aquatint, lithography and mezzotint, there will be a section that describes the techniques of each process.

British Landscape Printmaking features the work of artists - J.M.W.Turner, John Constable, Thomas Girtin, Samuel Palmer, and "Norwich School" members John Sell Cotman and John Crome


List of Artists


Johannes Kip

Richard Parkes Bonington

Thomas Shotter Boys

Nathaniel and Samuel Buck

John Constable *

John Sell Cotman

Miles Edmund Cotman

John Middleton

John Ruskin

John Robert Cozens

John Crome

George Cuitt

William Hogarth

Thomas Daniell

William Daniell

Henry Davy

John Plimmer

David Charles Read

Jacob George Strutt

Joseph Farington *

Thomas Gainsborough

Philip James de Loutherbourg

The Reverend William Gilpin *

Thomas Girtin

Francis Seymour Haden

James Duffield Harding

Thomas Hearne *

Thomas Christopher Hofland *

Edward Lear

John Martin

Francis Nicholson

Samuel Palmer

Samuel Prout

William Pyne

Richard Redgrave

George Fennel Robson *

Thomas Rowlandson

Paul Sandby

Thomas Creswick

William Blake

William Bell Scott

George and John Smith

Joseph Stannard

J M W Turner

John Varley *

Richard Wilson *


* Denotes after


Monday, March 28, 2011

James Duffield Harding



James Duffield Harding, 1798-1863, Beech Trees in Arundale Park, 1841, Lithograph.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

George Fennel Robson



George Fennel Robson, 1788-1833, 'Lochan-Y-Gar', Scenery of the Grampian Mountains, 1814, Aquatint.



George Fennel Robson, 1788-1833, 'Ben Ledi', Scenery of the Grampian Mountains, 1814, Aquatint.



 John Ruskin, Thomas Goff Lupton, 'The Lombard Apennine'  1856, Etching and Mezzotint.


John Ruskin, Thomas Goff Lupton, Thomas Shotter Boys, 'St George of the Seaweed'  1856, Etching and Mezzotint.


Monday, March 21, 2011



Jacob George Strutt, 1784 - 1867,  The Yew Tree at Ankerwyke, 1840, Etching



Thomas Creswick


Thomas Creswick, 1811 - 1869,  The Blacksmith Shop, 1844, Etching



Richard Parkes Bonington



Richard Parkes Bonington, 1802-1828,  Edinburgh from St. Anthony Chapel, 1826, Lithograph.



David Charles Read



David Charles Read,  1790 - 1851,  Göethe's Far Departed Light, 1828, Etching.


Thomas Shotter Boys, from 'Original views of London as it is'


Thomas Shotter Boys 1803-1874, Entry to the Strand from Charing Cross, 1842, Lithograph.


Thomas Shotter Boys 1803-1874  Piccadilly looking towards the City, 1842, Lithograph.


Thomas Shotter Boys 1803-1874  London Bridge from Southwark Bridge, 1842, Lithograph.
Edward Lear, Travels in Europe and the Middle East.

Edward Lear 1812-1888, L'arricci, Views of Rome and Environs, 1841. Lithograph.




Richard Redgrave.



 Richard Redgrave 1804-1888, Silver Thames, 1867, etching.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Samuel Palmer, the 'Ancients' and Visionary Landscape.
 
Whereas as many of the artists represented here were interpreting the landscape in very literal ways, Samuel Palmer shows us in his etchings a visionary interpretation of landscape. The artists associated with a group that called themselves ‘The Ancient’s’, not only looked back to the prolific artists of the early Renaissance but looked into themselves to produce a visionary perception of landscape. Implied also is the looking back to a better age, away from the burgeoning Industrial Revolution. The seminal and most influential artist of this group was William Blake whose work is include here; Blake was devoted to the art of printmaking throughout his life. Palmer, was profoundly influenced by Blake's ideas and philosophy. Samuel Palmer's etchings inevitably take us to the dawn and twilight of the day and give us a sense of an ethereal, mystical and contemplative world.



 Samuel Palmer 1805-1881, Opening the Fold or Early Morning, 1880. Etching.



 Samuel Palmer 1805-1881, The Homeward Star, 1880. Etching completed by his son.



William Blake 1757 - 1827, The Persian, the Sun and the Cloud, 1793, Etching and Engraving.



William Bell Scott


William Bell Scott 1811 - 1890,  And the waters prevailed, 1878, Etching.



Francis Seymour Haden and the etching revival.

Francis Seymour Haden was an English Surgeon, best known as an etcher and the foremost exponent of the etching revival in England. He became president of the  Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. He studied and collected the etched work of Rembrandt and collaborated with his brother-in-law James McNiell Whistler, a major force in the etching revival. Haden worked in both drypoint etching and mezzotint.


Francis Seymour Haden 1818-1910. A Salmon River No II. Mezzotint with Drypoint.1880


Francis Seymour Haden 1818-1910. Kenarth. Etching.1864.




PRINTMAKING TERMS, TECHNIQUES AND MATERIALS USED IN THIS EXHIBITION

TECHNIQUES

AQUATINT
Aquatint creates areas of tone. The artist applies a layer of fine grains of resin to the plate which is then fused by heat. When the plate is immersed in acid bath, the acid 'bites' small rings around each grain, and these hold enough ink to give the effect of a watercolor wash when the plate is printed. Excellent examples of the process can be seen in the work of Thomas and William Daniell.

ETCHING
The artist covers the plate with a hard acid-resistant ground, made of a mixture of waxes, gums and resins. Lines of the design are drawn on the ground with an etching needle or stylus. When the plate is immersed in the acid bath, the acid eats or 'bites' into the exposed areas of the plate, producing lines which will hold the ink. Examples of the process can be seen in the work of Joseph Stannard,  Francis Seymour Haden and Thomas Creswick.

SOFT-GROUND ETCHING
The etcher draws the composition on a piece of thin paper placed over a soft resin ground. When the paper is removed the resin ground adheres to the paper where the drawing instrument was placed, leaving the metal exposed.When the plate is immersed in the acid bath the plate is 'bitten' and a granular effect is produced. The effect when printed has the character of a tonal graphite drawing. An excellent example of this process can be seen in the work of John Sell Cotman.

LINE ENGRAVING

Of all these processes line engraving is the most laborious and costly, but was used because of the high-quality images it produces. Lines are incised on a copper or steel plate using a sharp tool called a burin , and a burnisher can be used to rub down and lighten areas and remove or correct unwanted lines. Unlike etching no acid is used to create the printable lines. Fine examples of this method are found in the engraved work of Richard Wilson and J M W Turner.

LITHOGRAPH
The artist draws  the design directly onto a very flat slab of limetstone, known as a 'stone'. Drawing is done using a special lithographic crayon. The stone is treated chemically so that ink, when rolled on to
the stone, adheres only where the drawing was made. As with all printing here, the print is made using a high-pressure press. Fine examples of lithography are found in the work of Thomas Shotter Boys, Edward Lear and James Duffield Harding.

MEZZOTINT
Technically a drypoint method. The design is created by a cross-hatching technique and a tool called a 'rocker'. This produces small points known as a 'burr'. When rocked over the entire plate it will print as an area of continuous darkness. The engraver removes burr to create areas of light using a burnisher and polishers. Examples of mezzotint can be found in the work of David Lucas (for John Constable) ,Francis Seymour Haden and Thomas Goff Lupton.



© MICHAEL THORNTON-SMITH  2011

CONTACT -  MICHAELTHORNTONSMITH@GMAIL.COM