After Work 1926 |
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Original etching.
Signed and inscribed in pencil.
Ref: Garton 20 viii/viii
S 195 x 254 mm; P 101 x 141 mm; I 98 x 138 mm
SOLD
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Original P.D. Drury etching.
Beautiful, richly inked impression with clear, sparkling line, from the only edition of 75 signed proofs. Skilfully printed to give strong, clear contrast, whilst revealing the very finest work in the most detailed passages.
After Work has long been one of the most sought after of all of Paul Drury’s etchings. This idyllic rural scene shows the considerable influence of William Blake, Samuel Palmer and the Ancients under whose spell Paul Drury produced the very finest of his etched works. Inspired by their example, Drury discovered the intangible qualities of a distant past, infused with mellow sunlight and intense passion, which he has catured in this deeply spiritual work.
This plate is one of the small group of exquisite early works upon which Paul Drury’s standing as an etcher rests. It was etched when Drury was working closely with his friend Graham Sutherland, an artist who produced a number of similarly rich pastoral etchings at the beginning of his career as a printmaker. After Work is one of Paul Drury’s most beautiful images in this vein, being filled with an almost mediaeval sense of spiritual warmth. Here, Drury has captured the true spirit of the day’s end and the enchanting mood of the evening light. There is a luminosity to this remarkable work which places it amongst the great masterpieces of all British printmaking.
This highly personal etching is touched with an intimate quality which portrays the respose still to be found in only a very few undisturbed corners of the English countryside. Paul Drury has succeeded in distilling on to copper the essence of a village life now almost completely passed away. Indeed, this inspired work appears poetic, as though a fleeting, treasured vision. It possesses a sacred quality which recalls the words of Samuel Palmer when describing the landscape elements of William Blake’s prints: “Visions of little dells, and nooks, and corners of Paradise; models of the exquisitest pitch of intense poetry... There is in all such a mystic and dreamy glimmer as penetrates and kindles the inmost soul, and gives complete and unreserved delight, unlike the gaudy daylight of this world”.
On fine cream laid paper, with full margins and deckle edge. Very fine original condition. Image surface excellent. |
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