This is a stunning 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 early and most accomplished Indian view by Lumsden and it was made in 1914 (on an extended honeymoon to India with his wife Mabel Royds).
He travelled several times to India between 1912 and 1927. 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 romanticize and exoticize his Indian subjects. He presents us with a relatively sober vision, one that suggests an easy, contented interaction with its places and people. 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.
The print is inscribed on the plate: Jan 1914 / Jodhpur and with initials: ESL. It has no edition number - but must come from a very small run - as existing impressions are now hard to find. The image shows a shop selling fruit in Jodhpur. The fruit is on offer under a shabby cloth canopy in the marketplace. The fruit sellers appear to be doing well in their business and are shown in the background in more fancy apparel - the people coming to the marketplace are not so well dressed and the little donkey to the left-hand side looks work-worn. Lumsden must have been fascinated with this subject as it is more fully worked up than similar studies made in India at this time.
Lumsden did another etching of this market, seen from another angle - it also was editioned at only 45 impressions. One of these is in the collection of the British Museum. My etching - does not seem to be in their collection.
The etching is signed (almost indecipherably), in pencil in the middle of the lower margin on the dip of the platemark - you might need a magnifying glass to see it - but Lumsden's faint signature: ES Lumsden imp - is there. I have photographed it for you - you might see it in my photograph if you look at it super-sized on your screen.
Please also see my framed colour woodcut by his wife Mabel Royds in my shop. It is also an Indian street subject made about this time.
Dimensions: The frame is 40 x 46.5 cm and the image is 20 x 25 cm
My etching is in good antique 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.
It is 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 checkout stage of your order.