This is a very simple yet stunning etching by the Scottish artist, John Rankine Barclay. It is No.1 of a small edition of only 50 impressions. It has nice crisp dark lines and tones - being the first pull taken from the etching plate - and before there was any wear or flattening to the lines on the copper.
John Rankine Barclay was born in Edinburgh in 1884. He won a Carnegie Travelling Scholarship in 1922 - which allowed him to study on the Continent. He also was awarded the Guthrie Award by the Royal Scottish Academy. He was a member of the Edinburgh Group which was formed just before World War I in 1912.
The original members of the prestigious Edinburgh Group included Hugh Cameron, William Mervyn Glass, William Oliphant Hutchison, Eric Robertson, Cecile Walton, John Whyte Somerville, John Guthrie Spence Smith, Alick Riddell Sturrock, and David Macbeth Sutherland. They were later joined by Dorothy Johnstone, Mary Newbery, and Adam Bruce Thomson. There is currently a much-renewed interest in their work and there was an exhibition in 1983 at the City Art Centre in Edinburgh which looked at the importance of the Group to the development of Scottish Art.
Rankine Barclay later moved to St Ives in Cornwall in 1935 - where he lived for over 30 years. He was based at Zennor and was best known for his decorative and mural paintings. He was a versatile artist, also producing woodcuts and book illustrations, and his work included landscapes, London parks, Cornish harbour and moor scenes.
Barclay was a member of the St Ives Society of Artists and was elected to its Council, becoming the Secretary in 1959 and retiring from this post shortly before his death in 1962.
His work is currently receiving much-renewed interest and is keenly sought after with rising prices in the salerooms. Some of his more impressionistic oil paintings have achieved high four figures sums in specialist art auctions.
This print comes from my own personal collection - and I have owned it for many years. It is fresh to the market. The lack of wall space at home forces me into making a very reluctant sale. I have not seen another impression of it. The image of the single tree set against a simple landscape background reminds me very much of similar woodblock prints done by Japanese artists.
Barclay has probably observed this solitary tree on the banks of the Forth north of Queensferry silhouetted against a grey Scottish sky. In the far distance, there are the rolling hills over in Fife and on the far shore are large cranes in what I assume is the naval dockyard at Rosyth. They seem to be building battleships - so this helps me to date the etching as being made just before 1914.
This is a very rare work by him - and much loved by us. It is well presented in a clean mount and simple honey-coloured wooden frame. All ready for you to hang on your wall. It has no apparent condition issues - and probably as nice an impression as you might hope to find.
It would be sent to you in the UK Royal Mail Special Next Day Delivery post so that it is fully insured in transit. This will be applied to your order at the checkout.