Leonard Griffiths Brammer

Original L.G. Brammer etching.

Outstanding signed proof impression from the only edition. A particularly striking example with strong contrast and exceptional clarity of line.

There is a stark modernism to this bleak image which echoes the First World War works of C.R.W. Nevinson whilst the handling, with its dense web of etched lines reflects the source of L.G. Brammer's inspiration in etching technique, Samuel Palmer. These apparently opposed sources have combined in Brammer's works to produce an unique group of etchings which stand alone in their style and in the record which they preserve of a piece of English industrial history.

Leonard Griffiths Brammer is famed as an original printmaker for the remarkable visual record which he created of the potteries. The son of a designer and builder of pot ovens and the grandson of a master potter, Leonard Brammer grew up in Burslem and was from his infancy exposed to the fine craftsmanship and distinctive images of the Potteries. Through his prints Brammer captured not only the striking visible imagery of the Potteries, but also the foreboding atmosphere which conveyed that the life and character of the landscape of his forefathers was never to be the same again.

From the 18th century until the 1960s, bottle ovens were the dominating feature of the Staffordshire Potteries. There were over two thousand of them standing at any one time and they could be seen everywhere one looked in the region.

On cream laid paper, with full margins and deckle edge. Excellent original condition.