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Tom Chadwick

1915 - 1942

Wayside Laundry by Tom Chadwick
 

Wayside Laundry   1935

  Original wood engraving.
Signed, titled and numbered in pencil.
Ref: Garrett p.196 & p.248
S 381 x 281 mm; I 254 x 205 mm
SOLD
 
Original Tom Chadwick wood engraving.

Excellent signed proof impression with strong, even blacks and fine clear detail. Although the intended edition was to be 60 proofs, only a very few impressions were printed. Few of Tom Chadwick’s editions were ever completed and most of his prints are now so rare as to be almost unobtainable.

One of Tom Chadwick’s most elaborate independent blocks, Wayside Laundry was derived from his travels in Spain and Italy in 1933 and 1934. Iain Macnab, the founder of the Grosvenor School of Modern Art (where Chadwick had trained), chose this print for reproduction in his book on the techniques of wood engraving, published in 1938. When reviewing the art of wood engraving many years later, Albert Garrett also singled out this work for particular praise, remarking “this engraving is a remarkable feat of design, texture and volumetric expression, beautifully fused. An outstanding feature is the rendering of the penumbra of the girls’ shadow on the wall and it displays an unusual and quite objective understanding of light. ” (A History of Wood Engraving, London, 1978, p.248).

Tom Chadwick exhibited an impression of Wayside Laundry at the Society of Wood Engravers in 1935, when he was just 20 years old.

On smooth cream simile Japan paper with full margins and deckle edge. Very good original condition.