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Valerie Thornton (1931-1991)
Bodleian Quadrangle, Oxford (1983)
Etching 24 x 35 cm Numbered 13/75 lower left, titled below, and signed and dated lower right, all in pencil. A very good example of Thornton's recognisable and unusual etching style. Her work is deeply concerned with material, and many of her etchings focus on eroded stone, emotive landscapes, and weathered architecture. Here, Thornton draws out the exceptional texture of the Bodleian Library's local stone. Valerie Thornton was a British etcher and printmaker. She was born in London, but was evacuated to Canada with her two brothers during World War II. She returned to London in 1944 and studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art in 1949. From 1950 to 1953 Thornton studied under P.F. Millard at the Regent Street Polytechnic, then spent eight months at Atelier 17 in Paris. In the early 1960s, she moved to New York and worked at Pratt Graphic Art Centre. In 1955, she succeeded Howard Hodgkin as assistant art teacher at Charterhouse School and in 1965 she became a founding member of the Print Makers Council. In 1970 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painters-Etchers and Engravers. Thornton was a member of The Regent Street Group (a group of nine artists who studied together at the Regent Street Polytechnic in the early 1950s). The group also included Susan Horsfield, Renate Meyer, Michael Lewis, Ken Symonds, Philip Le Bas, and Peter Riches. Thornton's work is included in a number of major public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, and the Tate. Thornton died in 1991 in Chelsworth, Suffolk. Condition: generally very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for more works by Valerie Thornton. -
Edward Burra (1905 - 1976)
Café
(1928 - 1929, this edition published 1971) Woodcut 10 x 15 cm; sheet size 24 x 34 cm Numbered 15/45 lower left and initialled EB lower right. Published by the Nicholas Treadwell Gallery in 1971. Burra's woodcut of a male and a female figure, entitled 'Café'. The two figures, seemingly a couple, gaze at one another intensely and intimately, giving the impression of having been interrupted by the viewer. Both figures' faces bear tattoo-like markings: he a star and the moon, she a geometric design resembling a noughts-and-crosses board. The "café" in which they sit is a dreamily abstract landscape full of palms and other plants from the tropics. Edward Burra was an English painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. He travelled to Italy in 1925, the same year he met the noted British Surrealist Paul Nash, and both of these influences are evident in this woodcut. Nash introduced Burra to woodcut-making in 1928, the same year that Burra began this woodcut series. His first solo show was held at the Leicester Galleries in April 1929, and he exhibited with the English Surrealists in the 1930s. Condition: Excellent. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Edwin La Dell (1914-1970)
Christ Church, Oxford (1956)
Lithograph 33 x 42 cm Signed and dated lower right. With invoice from Royal Academy and letter from the artist. This view of Christ Church from the meadows is rendered in a muted palette, suggestive of a late autumn afternoon. Four coat-and-hat-clad pedestrians stroll along, accompanied by small child and dog. La Dell studied at the Sheffield School of Art, where he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. From 1934 to 1940 John Nash was the head of printmaking there, and taught La Dell. La Dell himself became head of lithography there in 1948, and remained in post until his death. During the war La Dell was an official war artist and a camofleur, but he is probably best known for his lithographs of Oxford and Cambridge that he published himself. His works are widely held in the public collections, including the Royal Academy and the Government Art Collection, the latter of which holds many of his views of Cambridge. Condition: mounted to board. Slight but even age toning. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other views of Christ Church. -
Edwin La Dell (1914-1970)
The Meadows, Oxford
Lithograph 40 x 55 cm Signed, titled, and numbered 31/80 in pencil. A bright blue winter sky looks over Christ Church Meadows, complete with pedestrians waltzing down Deadman's Walk. La Dell studied at the Sheffield School of Art, where he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. From 1934 to 1940 John Nash was the head of printmaking there, and taught La Dell. La Dell himself became head of lithography there in 1948, and remained in post until his death. During the war La Dell was an official war artist and a camofleur, but he is probably best known for his lithographs of Oxford and Cambridge that he published himself. His works are widely held in the public collections, including the Royal Academy and the Government Art Collection, the latter of which holds many of his views of Cambridge. Condition: very good. Backed to linen. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other views of Christ Church. -
Gordon House (1932 - 2004)
Circle E
Lithograph 86 x 45 cm Signed, numbered 48/75, and titled in pencil below the plate. An excellent example of Gordon House's work: a modern design, influenced by art deco, in blue and yellow. Gordon House was born in Pontardawe, South Wales in 1932 and studied at Luton and St. Albans Schools of Art. He began working for advertising agencies in the 1950s and became a full-time artist in 1961, exhibiting several solo shoes. He designed for several leading London galleries, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, and popular bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Several dozen Gordon House prints are held by the Tate. Condition: very good; backed to board. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other abstract lithographs by Gordon House. -
Claude Muncaster (1903-1974) Factory Scene
Monochrome aquatint Signed in plate 22x28cm Provenance: the family of the artist, by descent. Click here for more from the same source. Aquatint is an unusual medium for Muncaster - the renowned watercolourist - and an unusual subject. Here he has handled the factory scene with perhaps more even than his usual skill. The smoke makes dramatic courses across the sky, and the wires, roofs and gantries all bring very strong triangular forms to a scene with powerful vertical lines. Claude Grahame Muncaster, RWS, ROI, RBA, SMA was the son of Oliver Hall RA. At the age of fifteen his career as a landscape painter began, and he soon took to the seas, spending the 1920s and 30s travelling the world with his sketchbook in a series of vessels. With the outbreak of war and he joined the RNVR training as a navigator. Having left school at fifteen his mathematics was very weak and it was a relief for all when his artistic talents meant he was recruited as a camofleur. A master of capturing seascapes he was therefore able to hide huge ships ‘in plain sight’ with clever disguises. After the war he painted for the Royal Family and was a frequent guest at Sandringham. Claude Muncaster was a watercolourist known for his landscapes and maritime scenes. He was born Grahame Hall, the son of the Royal Academician Oliver Hall who taught his son to paint from an early age; Grahame first exhibited his work aged 15 and a few years later was showing at the RA. However, he adopted the name Claude Muncaster in 1922 to dissociate his career from that of his father. Muncaster’s primary choice of subject matter came from a genuine love of the sea. He made several long-distance sea voyages, including one around the Horn as a deckhand in the windjammer Olivebank in 1931, which he described in ‘Rolling Round the Horn’, published in 1933. Armed with a sketchbook, his aim was to be able to ‘paint ships and the sea with greater authority’. This he certainly achieved, perfectly capturing the limpid first light of morning over the Port of Aden, the choppy rain-grey waters of the Bay of Biscay and a streak of sunlight through gathering storm clouds at dusk in Exeter. He became an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1931 and was a founder member, and later President, of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. During the Second World War, Muncaster served in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) from 1940-44, training as a navigator before going on to advise on the camouflage of ships, and also worked as an official war artist. In ‘Still Morning at Aden’ (1944) he depicts Allied warships in this safe anchorage in the Middle East; the back is stamped with Admiralty approval. In 1946-7 he was commissioned by the Queen to produce watercolours of the royal residences at Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral; the Duke of Edinburgh, in a foreword to a biography of Muncaster, recalls looking at these and considering the artist’s ‘unerring instinct for a subject’, his sense of atmosphere. Other commissions included large panoramas of the Thames and of Bradford. His career also included work as an etcher, illustrator, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, and his paintings can be found in the Royal Academy, Tate, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, National Railway Museum and Royal Air Force Museum. -
Craigie Aitchison (1926 - 2009)
Yellow Crucifixion
Screenprint 76 x 63 cm Published by Advanced Graphics Limited (2000). Craigie Aitchison’s iteration of the crucifixion sees Christ upon a Cross with no patibulum (horizontal beam). Jesus becomes part of the stipes (vertical beam), a willing participant in his own martyrdom. The star above his head is the Star of Bethlehem, and the sheep or goat at his feet the Lamb of God. These symbols of divinity, set against the backdrop an empty yellow-soaked landscape, transform this picture of the crucifixion into an image of resurrection. Condition: excellent. Magnificently framed. -
Edward Bawden (1903 - 1989)
Aesop's Fables: Peacock and Magpie (1970)
Linocut print 63 x 75 cm Signed, numbered 11/50, and titled in pencil. A delightful print illustrating Aesop's fable of the Peacock and Magpie. In the fable, the birds are searching for a king, and the Peacock puts himself forward. The birds are about to make him king because of his charming plumage, but a Magpie asks the Peacock how he might defend the birds from predators. The Peacock has no answer. Aesop's moral is that those in power must be suited to the task, and not just vain pretenders. The artist's use of vibrant colour brings the tale to life. Edward Bawden was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had been a student, worked as a commercial artist, and served as a war artist in World War II. He illustrated several books and painted various public murals, and his work and career are often associated with that of his contemporary, Eric Ravilious. Condition: generally very good; small stain to extremity that will be hidden under mount. If you’d like to know more, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Edwin La Dell (1914-1970) King's College from the Copper Kettle, Cambridge
Signed in pencil and titled 32x48cm A copy of this print is in the Government Art Collection. Lithograph Born in Coventry, La Dell's father was a Sheffield-born bookbinder. After study at Sheffield School of Art, he was the winner of a scholarship to the Royal College of Art where the head of print making was John Nash (from 1934 to 1940). La Dell became head of lithography there from 1948 until his death. During the war he was an official war artist and a camofleur, but he is probably best known for his lithographs of Oxford and Cambridge that he published himself, together with those he published for the School Prints scheme and Lyons Tea Rooms. His works are widely held in the public collections, including the Royal Academy and the Government Art Collection, the latter having a copy of this print. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: In conservation mount, some age toning to print as visible in photograph. -
Edwin La Dell (1914-1970) King's Parade, Cambridge
Signed in pencil and titled 35x47cm A copy of this print is in the Government Art Collection. Lithograph Born in Coventry, La Dell's father was a Sheffield-born bookbinder. After study at Sheffield School of Art, he was the winner of a scholarship to the Royal College of Art where the head of print making was John Nash (from 1934 to 1940). La Dell became head of lithography there from 1948 until his death. During the war he was an official war artist and a camofleur, but he is probably best known for his lithographs of Oxford and Cambridge that he published himself, together with those he published for the School Prints scheme and Lyons Tea Rooms. His works are widely held in the public collections, including the Royal Academy and the Government Art Collection, the latter having a copy of this print. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: In conservation mount, some age toning to print as visible in photograph. -
Edwin La Dell
Queens' College, Cambridge
Lithograph Signed in pencil and numbered 33/50 21x46.5cm A copy of this print is in the Government Art Collection. Click here for biographical details and other works by the artist. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Walter Hoyle (1922 - 2000)
Emmanuel College, Cambridge (Cambridge Series 1956 - 66)
Linocut 55 x 43 cm Signed and inscribed A/P in pencil. Hoyle's view of Emmanuel's Front Court bleaches the gold of the chapel's Ketton Stone into an icy blue, and situates it beneath a tempestuous yellow sky. Hoyle trained at Beckenham School of Art and the Royal College of Art. At the latter he was strongly influenced by Edward Bawden, one of Britain’s greatest linocut printers. Bawden had been commissioned by the 1951 Festival of Britain to produce a mural for the South Bank, and chose Hoyle to assist on account of his great talent. Hoyle moved to Great Bardfield in Essex, becoming a part of the Great Bardfield group of artists; diverse in style, they created figurative work, in stark contrast to the abstract art of the St Ives artists at the opposite end of the country. Hoyle taught at St Martin’s School of Art from 1951-60, the Central School of Arts and Crafts from 1960-64, and the Cambridge School of Art from 1964-1985, during which time he launched Cambridge Print Editions. His work is held in the collections of the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The British Museum, Kettle’s Garden and the Fry Art Gallery. Provenance: family of the artist. Condition: generally very good; a few handling marks and areas of discolouration to extreme margins, extraneous ink to right hand side, and a very small brown spot to very top right beyond the blue sky. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Click here for other views of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. -
Eric Gill
From the Books of Philip Hofer Woodblock Print
Published Hague & Gill 1934 in an unnumbered edition of 300 23x21cm Following Chichester Technical and Art School, Gill moved to London in 1900 to train with the ecclesiastical architects W D Caroe. Finding architecture somewhat pedestrian he took stonemasonry lessons at Westminster Technical Institute and calligraphy lessons at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, coming under the influence of Edward Johnson, the designer of the London Underground's own typeface. In 1903 he ceased his attempts to become an architect, instead becoming a monumental mason, letter-cutter and calligrapher. Based in Ditchling, he began direct carving of stone figures, the semi-abstract figures taking their influence from mediaeval statuary, mixed with influences from Classical statuary from the Greeks and Romans, with a little post-Impressionism added in. With major commissions from Westminster Cathedral for its Stations of the Cross (1914), a series of War Memorials including the Grade II* memorial in Trumpington, and three of the sculptures for Charles Holden's 1928 headquarters of London Underground at 55 Broadway, St James's, and a series of sculptures for the new 1932 Broadcasting House. The list continues. Never one to rest on his laurels, he was at the same time engaged in typographical adventures. He had collaborated with Edward Johnson on the latter's initial thoughts on his London Transport typeface, but in 1925 designed Perpetua on his own, and Gill Sans between 1927-30. For the Golden Cockerel Press he created, in 1929, a bolder typeface to complement wood engravings. And of course Gill was publishing decorated books. His 1929 Canterbury Tales was an epic work, with a whole series of beautiful wood engravings such as this one. The present print is from the 1934 edition for Faber & Faber ('Engravings 1928-1933 by Eric Gill') he printed with his son-in-law, Rene Hague, produced with the original engraved wood blocks. Philip Hofer was a curator and collector, and commissioned this fine Ex Libris plate from Gill. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Generally very good condition. -
Eric Gill (1882-1940) The Deposition from the Cross
Woodblock Print Published Hague & Gill 1934 23x21cm Christ's body is taken down from the Cross, Mary assists by holding the ropes, and two men - Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus climb the ladder - one of the instruments of the passion. Click here for biographical details and other prints by Gill. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Eric Gill (1882-1940) Canterbury Tales Border - Two nudes i
Woodblock Print Published Hague & Gill 1934 23x21cm Condition: very good Click here for biographical details and other prints by Gill. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Eric Gill (1882-1940) Canterbury Tales Border - Two nudes ii
Woodblock Print Published Hague & Gill 1934 23x21cm Condition: very good. Click here for biographical details and other prints by Gill. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. -
Eric Gill
Border for The Canterbury Tales (1929) - Three Men with Spears
Woodblock Print Published Hague & Gill 1934 in an unnumbered edition of 300 23x21cm Following Chichester Technical and Art School, Gill moved to London in 1900 to train with the ecclesiastical architects W D Caroe. Finding architecture somewhat pedestrian he took stonemasonry lessons at Westminster Technical Institute and calligraphy lessons at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, coming under the influence of Edward Johnson, the designer of the London Underground's own typeface. In 1903 he ceased his attempts to become an architect, instead becoming a monumental mason, letter-cutter and calligrapher. Based in Ditchling, he began direct carving of stone figures, the semi-abstract figures taking their influence from mediaeval statuary, mixed with influences from Classical statuary from the Greeks and Romans, with a little post-Impressionism added in. With major commissions from Westminster Cathedral for its Stations of the Cross (1914), a series of War Memorials including the Grade II* memorial in Trumpington, and three of the sculptures for Charles Holden's 1928 headquarters of London Underground at 55 Broadway, St James's, and a series of sculptures for the new 1932 Broadcasting House. The list continues. Never one to rest on his laurels, he was at the same time engaged in typographical adventures. He had collaborated with Edward Johnson on the latter's initial thoughts on his London Transport typeface, but in 1925 designed Perpetua on his own, and Gill Sans between 1927-30. For the Golden Cockerel Press he created, in 1929, a bolder typeface to complement wood engravings. And of course Gill was publishing decorated books. His 1929 Canterbury Tales was an epic work, with a whole series of beautiful wood engravings such as this one. The present print is from the 1934 edition for Faber & Faber ('Engravings 1928-1933 by Eric Gill') he printed with his son-in-law, Rene Hague, produced with the original engraved wood blocks. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Generally very good condition. -
Eric Gill
Initial Letter 'H' for The Canterbury Tales (1929) - The Doctor's Tale
Woodblock Print Published Hague & Gill 1934 in an unnumbered edition of 300 23x21cm Following Chichester Technical and Art School, Gill moved to London in 1900 to train with the ecclesiastical architects W D Caroe. Finding architecture somewhat pedestrian he took stonemasonry lessons at Westminster Technical Institute and calligraphy lessons at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, coming under the influence of Edward Johnson, the designer of the London Underground's own typeface. In 1903 he ceased his attempts to become an architect, instead becoming a monumental mason, letter-cutter and calligrapher. Based in Ditchling, he began direct carving of stone figures, the semi-abstract figures taking their influence from mediaeval statuary, mixed with influences from Classical statuary from the Greeks and Romans, with a little post-Impressionism added in. With major commissions from Westminster Cathedral for its Stations of the Cross (1914), a series of War Memorials including the Grade II* memorial in Trumpington, and three of the sculptures for Charles Holden's 1928 headquarters of London Underground at 55 Broadway, St James's, and a series of sculptures for the new 1932 Broadcasting House. The list continues. Never one to rest on his laurels, he was at the same time engaged in typographical adventures. He had collaborated with Edward Johnson on the latter's initial thoughts on his London Transport typeface, but in 1925 designed Perpetua on his own, and Gill Sans between 1927-30. For the Golden Cockerel Press he created, in 1929, a bolder typeface to complement wood engravings. And of course Gill was publishing decorated books. His 1929 Canterbury Tales was an epic work, with a whole series of beautiful wood engravings such as this one. The present print is from the 1934 edition for Faber & Faber ('Engravings 1928-1933 by Eric Gill') he printed with his son-in-law, Rene Hague, produced with the original engraved wood blocks. In Chaucer's Tales, the Summoner's Tale tells the story of the man who summonsed people to the ecclesiastical courts. It satirises the friar, considering him to be corrupt. Philip Hofer was a curator and collector, and commissioned this fine Ex Libris plate from Gill. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Generally very good condition. -
Eric Gill
Canterbury Tales The Summoner's Tale
Woodblock Print Published Hague & Gill 1934 in an unnumbered edition of 300 23x21cm Following Chichester Technical and Art School, Gill moved to London in 1900 to train with the ecclesiastical architects W D Caroe. Finding architecture somewhat pedestrian he took stonemasonry lessons at Westminster Technical Institute and calligraphy lessons at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, coming under the influence of Edward Johnson, the designer of the London Underground's own typeface. In 1903 he ceased his attempts to become an architect, instead becoming a monumental mason, letter-cutter and calligrapher. Based in Ditchling, he began direct carving of stone figures, the semi-abstract figures taking their influence from mediaeval statuary, mixed with influences from Classical statuary from the Greeks and Romans, with a little post-Impressionism added in. With major commissions from Westminster Cathedral for its Stations of the Cross (1914), a series of War Memorials including the Grade II* memorial in Trumpington, and three of the sculptures for Charles Holden's 1928 headquarters of London Underground at 55 Broadway, St James's, and a series of sculptures for the new 1932 Broadcasting House. The list continues. Never one to rest on his laurels, he was at the same time engaged in typographical adventures. He had collaborated with Edward Johnson on the latter's initial thoughts on his London Transport typeface, but in 1925 designed Perpetua on his own, and Gill Sans between 1927-30. For the Golden Cockerel Press he created, in 1929, a bolder typeface to complement wood engravings. And of course Gill was publishing decorated books. His 1929 Canterbury Tales was an epic work, with a whole series of beautiful wood engravings such as this one. The present print is from the 1934 edition for Faber & Faber ('Engravings 1928-1933 by Eric Gill') he printed with his son-in-law, Rene Hague, produced with the original engraved wood blocks. In Chaucer's Tales, the Summoner's Tale tells the story of the man who summonsed people to the ecclesiastical courts. It satirises the friar, considering him to be corrupt. Philip Hofer was a curator and collector, and commissioned this fine Ex Libris plate from Gill. If you are interested email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. Condition: Generally very good condition.
