Alex Heslop

Print of the day: Whistler.

I love Whistler.

Not only are his etchings and subjects very beautiful, he pretty much singlehandedly, with the help of his brother-in-law, Francis Seymor Haden, revived the art of etching from its post-Rembrandt blues. In fact, he created more than 490 etchings in his lifetime, remaining true to the belief that prints were as vital as paintings. 

What a HERO.

Here’s the man himself at his etching press, looking rather dashing.

(I wish everyone printed in a full suit and tie these days…)

Heavily influenced by the writings of Baudelaire, Whistler took subjects from ‘modern life’ and sought a new beauty in teeming cities.

His humble scenes of everyday life; details which are so often overlooked,  together create a significant body of work that still stands as one the high points of etching history. 

Here’s some work from his famous ‘Thames set’, created after his move to London in 1859. 

Very nice indeed. Hats-off Whistler.

Print of the day: Aubrey Beardsley and The Art Nouveau Book.

I must admit, I’m not the biggest fan of Beardsley. 

He seems to cultivate an artificial, mannered, fantastic, theatrical world and his “embellishments”, as he liked to call his illustrations, capture a general aura of morbid depravity.

But nevertheless, being the earliest and finest exponent of the photographic line block process, something has to be said about his contribution to The Art Nouveau Book and to 1890s Aestheticism. And, I’ve got to say, his ornate line work is really quite beautiful.

Here’s the fine fellow himself…

I guess the step away from the endearing ideals of the Arts and Crafts Movement towards a new iconographic eclecticism, was what this ‘new art’ was about. Indeed, all his references were existing images; taking from art and architecture what he fancied. Unlike Morris’s work too, Beardsley’s illustrations were not literal; their construction and content demanded that they be ‘read’ with the text. Morris was a designer, Beardsley an interpreter.

Have a little look at his fine work for Thomas Malory’s ‘Morte d’Arthur’:

Chapter heading for Le Morte d’Arthur, 1893

Le Morte d’Arthur: How four queens found Lancelot sleeping

Print of the day: Sydney Lee.

To celebrate the current exhibition at the Royal Academy, curated by my old printmaking tutor at Aber, here’s a nice little colour woodcut by one of my fave early 20th-century British artists, Sydney Lee.

Boat Building, St Ives, c.1905–10

Oh, and to accompany it, here’s a TOP photo of the fine fellow