Michael Oelman (born 1941)

The River Cherwell

Lithograph

33 x 46 cm

A lithograph of Oxford’s wondrous River Cherwell in University Parks, from an etching by Michael Oelman. A setting sun casts its gold light over the glassy surface of the river and its surrounding trees; two figures cross the Cherwell via the famous Rainbow Bridge. The curved footbridge was built in the early 1920s by the University a project for the unemployed.

Oelman’s etching was reproduced as a lithograph in 1981, to be published in the “Oxford Almanack”. The Oxford Almanack was an annual almanac published by the Oxford University Press for the University of Oxford from 1674 through 2019 (when printing sadly ceased due to “dwindling interest”). The almanac traditionally included engravings or lithographs of the University and information about the upcoming year. Other almanac artists have included James Basire, Michael Burghers, J. M. W. Turner, and John Piper.

Michael Oelman was born in Llandudno, Wales, in 1941. He studied fine art at Reading University and then etching and lithography at the Central and Slade Schools of Art. In the 1960s he studied with S. W. Hayter in Paris, and then became a lecturer in Printmaking at Doncaster College of Art, Yorkshire. His studio is in Suffolk.

Condition: very good.

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