The Prawn 1950 |
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Original wood engraving and linocut printed in two colours.
Signed and inscribed in pencil.
Russell 105 i/ii
S 297 x 367 mm; I 176 x 250 mm
SOLD
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Original Gertrude Hermes wood engraving and linocut printed in two colours.
Excellent impression from the first edition, printed with strong blue background. One of only thirty signed proofs printed in the year that the engraving was completed, 1950. A second edition was printed with a yellow background in 1964.
The Prawn continues Hermes’ enduring theme of depicting forms of life within a fluid medium. During the late 1940’s Gertrude Hermes began to use linocut blocks to introduce colour to her prints. This two-colour print of The Prawn has been produced through the combination of a colour printed linocut to create the background and a white-line wood engraving printed in black ink to create the principal image. As one of the final engraved works by Gertrude Hermes, The Prawn represents the culmination of a lifetime of experience as one of England’s finest wood engravers and linocut artists. This was the print which Gertrude Hermes submitted as her Diploma Print upon election to full Fellowship of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in 1951.
On smooth cream wove paper with full margins and deckle edge. Excellent condition with strong, unfaded colour. |
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