Original Winifred Austen aquatint together with the original Winifred Austen watercolour.
Very good signed proof impression with fresh unfaded colours, from the only edition; together with the original watercolour sketch for this aquatint.
It is rare to be able to offer both a finished print and the original watercolour upon which it was based as a pair.
Winifred Austen’s colour aquatints are remarkable achievements in colour printing and are amongst the finest of their kind to have been produced in this country. Having been long established as a leading printmaker throughout the boom years of the Etching Revival, Winifred Austen only began to experiment with colour printing in about 1938, after some 30 years as a printmaker. Working from her home near Woodbridge in Suffolk, she was one of the few original etchers to continue making prints after the collapse of the commercial print market in the late 1920’s. Her works in colour aquatint are particularly notable for their outstanding mastery of technique and the subtle blending of colour inks in their printing.
Winifred Austen’s finished aquatint is a splendid translation of her watercolour sketch. It is unusual in that the composition is not reversed from the original and is notable for its faithfulness to the original sketch, from which it varies but little; however, where variation is apparent it is in improved detail and strengthened shadows. There can be no question that the aquatint must be regarded as the finished work and that Winifred Austen is at her finest when working in the aquatint medium and printing in colours.
"The Fowler" depicted in these two works was a man named Bill Cable, of Aldeburgh - a small coastal town not far from Winifred Austen's home. Bill Cable appears in a number of Austen's painted works.
Aquatint on cream wove paper, with full margins. Some evidence of previous mounting at extreme edges of sheet, otherwise very good original condition. Watercolour on stout artist’s board, remains of old paper tape at extreme edges, verso. Generally very good original condition.
