UNSUNG
HEROES
A
selection of images, 16th – 20th
centuries, by Neglected, Forgotten, Anonymous or Underrated
Printmakers
Printmaking itself is the Cinderella of the arts; even
some of its greatest exponents are little known to the
general art-loving public.
Cycles
of taste temporarily bring one school or style into
the limelight and force another into the shade. At
the close of the 20th century, when we are already
into the Post-Modern era, time has distanced and historical
perspective made accessible and sort-after the more
extreme and colourful Modernist styles. Thus eclipsing
(though not totally) the more traditional draughtsmanship-based
black and white graphic art that dominated the market
through the Etching Boom of the 1920’s.
Amidst
its rich diversity, discovery of the minor masters
of printmaking is exciting and fun. Considering that
multiplicity is inherent by nature of the medium, it
is remarkable how often one finds prints that are unfamiliar.
This is particularly true of the 20th century when
the spread of art schools and availability of art training
hugely increased the numbers of printmakers and the
Etching Boom encouraged all sorts of artists to take
up etching. The subsequent Crash obliterated many from
memory and discouraged documentation.
After
the War printmaking, and in particular etching, was
slow to re-establish itself in the popular imagination
and for decades did not receive the attention with
which it had been lavished in the 1920's and '30’s.
But
fine qualities of draughtsmanship and design, expressing
an individual artist’s particular vision, will
continue to appeal despite the temporary vagaries of
fashion, whether the artist’s name is well known
or not.
Published 1999
56 pages, 204 items described and illustrated in black & white.
(UK
Price: £7, International orders: £10)
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Artists
included in the catalogue:
- Bauer
M
- Béjot
E
- Beurdeley
J
- Biard
P
- Blackburn
C
- Bormann
E
- Brown
D
- Camaro
A
- Cherry
A
- Coney
J
- Cotman
J S
- Cuitt
G
- Daum
J
- Daumier
H
- Delâtre
E
- East
A
- Ehrlich
G
- Fozard
R
- Francis
E
- Galanis
D
- Guthrie
J J
- Haden
F S
- Hagreen
P
- Halliday
G D
- Hamilton
J McLure
- Harbutt
W
- Hardie
M
- Heintzelmann
A
- Herkomer
H von
- Hermes
G
- Houbraken
A
- Howarth
A
- Israels
J
- Kempster
W
- Kermode
W
- Kobell
F
- Komjati
J
- Küsell
M
- Laborde
C
- Lambert
P D
- Lee
S
- Lindsay
L
- Lolek
S
- Lowe
J M
- Lucas
van Leyden
- Makoveeva
I
- Maris
R
- Menpes
M
- Michietti
P
- Mohr
A
- Moore
T Sturge
- Morgenstern
J F
- Muyden
E van
- Muyden
H van
- Nečas
G F
- Odefey
E
- Osborne
J T A
- Pitman
T B
- Prunaire
A
- Pryse
G Spencer
- Rode
B
- Saenredam
J
- Schlossbauer
F
- Schmutzer
F
- Seewald
R
- Shannon
C H
- Shepperson
C A
- Short
F
- Smart
D I
- Smith
P
- Sparks
N
- Spear
R
- Spensley
T
- Spies
O
- Strang
W
- Unwin
F S
- Verpilleux
E A
- Weirotter
F E
- Wolfsfeld
E
- Zorin
I
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