back to works by this artist go to previous work   go to next work

Allan Gwynne-Jones

1892 - 1982

Southwold Fair by Allan Gwynne-Jones
 

Southwold Fair   1927

  Original line engraving.
Signed and dated in pencil.
S 245 x 374 mm; P & I 199 x 289 mm
SOLD
 
Original Allan Gwynne-Jones engraving.

Outstanding signed proof impression from the only edition of 75 signed proofs issued by the artist through Colnaghi & Co. in 1927. A particularly well printed proof with excellent tonal range.

The most famous engraving by Allan Gwynne-Jones, this lively scene of the funfair at Southwold in Suffolk was based upon a watercolour which Gwynne-Jones had made, on the spot, in 1912. Allan Gwynne-Jones was much taken with the work of the Victorian artist Richard Dadd and elements of Dadd’s figures from his Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke can be seen in the poses of the many colourful characters who populate this elaborate engraving. Unlike today's funfairs, the larger rides were not generally powered by electricity in those days, but were driven by steam, as can be seen coming from the funnel at the top of the big carousel in this wonderful period piece.

All of the carefully crafted etchings and engravings by Allan Gwynne-Jones were created during the period when he was Professor of Painting at the Royal College of Art in London, between the years 1923 and 1930. Allan Gwynne-Jones adopted a dense method of cross-hatching which reflects the techniques of F.L. Griggs and of Samuel Palmer before him. However, the elaborate realism of Gwynne-Jones’s printed works seldom lingers on an ideal past, but concentrates instead upon contemporary life in the countryside.

On antique laid paper with full margins and deckle-edge. Faintest suggestion of mild foxing, otherwise very good original condition.