Herbert Cutner

Original Herbert Cutner etching.

Very strong signed proof impression with the dense etched lines printing crisp and clear.

Herbert Cutner etched this plate in 1939, but laid the plate aside for many years, only first printing the small proof edition from which this impression comes in 1957 – the few proofs printed were dated by the artist according to the date of the etched work itself, rather than the date of its printing.

The scarce original etchings of Herbert Cutner are concerned primarily with contemporary life in London between the two World Wars. This highly effective view of pedestrians heading towards the illuminated entrance to an underground station in central London contains echoes of certain American prints of the period. Cutner has succeeded in suggesting an enormous amount of detail in the shadows through carefully controlled dense cross hatching. The distant spotlit block, the few lighted windows and the varied effects of the streetlamps contrast with the darkness to dramatic effect. Yet always, the viewer’s eye is drawn towards the focus of the composition, the entrance to the underground station itself.

On pale cream wove paper, watermarked 1957, with margins.