This is an etching by the celebrated Scottish printmaker, Ernest Stephen Lumsden.
He was a gifted printmaker and painter and was largely self-taught as an etcher.
His earliest etched works date to 1902 when the young artist was living in Paris. In 1906 six of his etchings were exhibited at the Society of Painters and Gravers and the following year two more were shown at the Salon in Paris.
By 1908 he had settled in Edinburgh, where he took up a position at the Edinburgh College of Art.
Lumsden was a great traveller and undertook trips to British Columbia in Canada, Japan, Korea, Beijing and Burma. He made a wonderful series of etchings documenting his stay in India - a country he would visit many times.
In 1913 Lumsden married the artist Mabel Royds and the couple travelled on extensive trips together.
In 1914 Lumsden was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, and in 1924 he published The Art of Etching, which remains a standard work on the subject.
In 1929 he became President of the Society of Artist Printmakers and in 1933 was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh.
Works by Lumsden are in the collections of the Tate, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, amongst others.
This etching is an accomplished Indian view by Lumsden and it was made in 1921. He travelled several times to India between 1912 and 1927 and is noted for his prints of Benares on the River Ganges. Nearly a third (125 plates) of his output of etchings are Indian views.
Ernest Stephen Lumsden (1883-1948) was a distinguished painter, noted etcher and authority on etching. He studied at Reading Art School under Frank Morley Fletcher and briefly at the Académie Julian in Paris in 1903. In 1908 he accepted an appointment at the Edinburgh College of Art, where he taught for a few years and remained based there for the rest of his life.
Lumsden was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in 1909 and raised to full membership in 1915. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1923 and a full member in 1933, and he was President of the Society of Artist Printers from 1929 to 1947.
In 1925 Lumsden published what is still regarded as the seminal treatise, The Art of Etching. Here he describes the various techniques of intaglio printing using etching, drypoint, mezzotint and aquatint; he describes the history and development of etching through Rembrandt, Goya and the etching revival; and he reproduced personal, illustrated notes from several eminent etchers of the period on their techniques, including Muirhead Bone, D.Y. Cameron
Lumsden resisted the impulse to romanticise and exoticise his Indian subjects. He presents us with a relatively sober vision, one that suggests an easy, contented interaction with its places and peoples. Lumsden's technical virtuosity includes his use of an economy of line, carefully built compositions, and, above all, a command of India's intense light.
In this etching, Lumsden depicts one of his favourite locations. To the right, he concentrates on depicting the architecture of the Kashi Vishvanath Temple on the bank of the River Ganges at Varanasi near Benares. He sets off the grandeur of the historic temple against the local daily activities on the other half of the sheet - nearly central to the composition is the small figure seen in silhouette feeding a flock of birds encircling the man in the cloudless sky above.
The print is signed and dated in the plate to the right: Lumsden 1921. It is signed by the artist in pen and ink on the lower margin - and edition numbered: 16 / 55 on the left.
Please also see my colour woodcut by Royds in my shop.
Dimensions: Frame is 42 x 56.5 cm and the image is 21.5 x 36 cm
It is in good condition and is being sold with a simple old black frame (I think the original frame to the print). It would probably benefit from a new fresher window mount - but generally, it is good enough for you to just hang straight on your wall for display.
A larger etching by Lumsden and the sheet is in fine condition.
It will be sent to you with Parcelforce48 post in the UK. This will cost £10 and be applied at the check out stage of your order.