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Leonard Beaumont

1891 - 1986

Zermatt by Leonard Beaumont
 

Zermatt   1930

  Original etching.
Signed in pencil.
Ref: Dickson 31; Print Collector’s Quarterly, vol.20, no.2, p.158
S 292 x 235 mm; P & I 239 x 204 mm
SOLD
 
Original Leonard Beaumont etching.

Very good signed proof impression from the only edition.

Leonard Beaumont’s most sought after etching, depicting the Swiss mountain town of Zermatt which lies beneath the Matterhorn, the most famous mountain in Europe. Some of those less fortunate amongst the early climbers to attempt its summit lie in the graves surrounding the church depicted in Beaumont’s extraordinary etching.

Leonard Beaumont developed a highly original and truly distinctive style which stems from his practice of developing his works as compositions made in the studio, rather than from life. He did not etch outdoors but would make studies and compose each plate afterwards in his studio. Beaumont wrote of his work “My plates are compositions, rather than transcripts from nature” (PCQ, vol.20, no.2, p.165) thus the final image represents a construct of how the artist remembers the place, rather than an exact factual representation.

There is a strange intensity to Leonard Beaumont’s finest plates with their unusual angles of view; their distinctive, cramped images forcing the eye to explore every aspect of their extraordinary detail.

Leonard Beaumont chose to make this etching on an iron plate, in the manner of Albrecht Dürer, resulting in a fine and silvery-grey quality to the etched lines when printed.

This work was selected by Campbell Dodgson as the frontispiece illustration to the leading article on Leonard Beaumont in The Print Collector’s Quarterly of April 1933 (vol.20, no.2, p.158) and Malcolm Salaman, the doyen of critic of the day, singled this etching out for particular praise in his commentary on the etchings of the year.

On cream wove paper with margins. Time tone within mat window area, otherwise very good original condition.