Mario Avati Animal Prints

Leonard Merchant's mezzotint, "Snail in Cup" is inscribed for fellow artist, Fritz Eichenberg. While a student at the Central School for Arts and Crafts in London, a young Leonard Marchant found an engraving rocker in a cupboard and proceeded to turn himself into a master of the painstaking art of mezzotinting. Marchant, who has died in Shrewsbury aged 70, grew up in Simonstown, the Royal Navy's enclave in South Africa. Though his first job was as a parliamentary messenger, he taught himself to paint and, aged 19, was given a one-man show in Cape Town. Fired by this success, he left for England to study painting and, he claimed, to escape the stifling home atmosphere created by his Catholic mother and aunts. (His father was killed in the second world war.) Without contacts in London, he phoned Jacob Epstein, whose recommendation resulted in a grant to study briefly at the Central School. It was later, when studying full-time at the Central, that he saw the mezzotints of the Japanese master, Yozo Hamaguchi, in a London gallery. He was hooked. Creating a mezzotint is tedious in the extreme. The copper plate must first be prepared with a "rocker" which roughens the surface. A plate may be "rocked" 30 or 40 times. The rough texture is then reduced with a burnisher and a scraper, allowing the print a range of tones from velvety black through the greys to white. Marchant's plates could be months in the making. But the technical demands were the least of his worries. In its 18th- and 19th-century heyday, mezzotint was solely a reproductive medium, for copying masters such as Reynolds and Turner. The development of photography rendered it unfashionable, and by the 1960s the technique, known as la manière anglaise, was a bygone medium. Marchant, by now a teacher in printmaking at the Central, began to create original mezzotints with a colleague, Radavan Kraguly. A perfectionist, he seemed to revel in the straitjacket procedure. Perhaps it was the metaphor of bringing darkness out of light that appealed to this straight-talking, sometimes sombre, man, who would suddenly relax and light up like a gleaming hue on one of his prints. His work was of squares and triangles with the occasional cat, black and ominous, and carefully arranged still lifes, featuring plants, a seed pod, a pot he might have bought at auction to celebrate the sale of a print. There were one-man shows, notably at the Bankside Gallery. He sold well at the Royal Academy summer exhibition, was a Florence Biennale prizewinner, spent a fellowship year at the British School in Rome, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. But making mezzotints was not a paying job. Marchant and his South African wife...

Izzy, a charming characterful terrier stands alert, holding her ball in her mouth. Colour etching hand made and printed by the artist. Helen Fay's art for sale online and in our gallery at Wychwood Art. Animals have always been at the heart of my work. I find the form, movement and behaviour of the creatures I draw a source of limitless fascination. I love the idea of them watching me, watching them as I draw. I hope my appreciation of the sentience and character of the animals I draw comes across in my work. Over my career I have drawn everything from primates to penguins, dogs, ostriches and even an echidna. These days dogs are my main focus, mostly because I adore dogs but also because they are such an integral part of life. I am delighted by the theory that humans and dogs co evolved, we wouldn’t be what we are without them and vice versa. I try to pare my images down to a balanced simplicity that directs attention to the subject of the picture. I try to balance the subject and the space it occupies, giving each equal importance. Light is hugely important to my work, I imagine my subject in three dimensions as I draw and the light describes the musculature and texture that gives the drawing it’s presence and grounds it in the picture. I aim to capture a pause, a moment where whatever I draw looks like it could wander off or leap up any minute. My influences include Japanese prints, Chinese and Japanese brush drawing and the European artists who were influenced by Japan. I am really excited by composition, by artists like Bonnard and Leon Spilliaert. I have long been a fan of Munch for his direct mark-making, colour and intensity and at the other end of the spectrum, Hammershoi for his limited palette, sense of space and calm. I am interested in black and white photography and film and have recently discovered and been amazed by the films of Yasujiro Ozu...

Python is a hand-pulled mezzotint in an edition of 25. This is #7/25. Jacob Crook was born in St. Louis, MO in 1985. Crook works primarily in the intagli...

"Nohubo remedio" (There was no remedy) - Etching and Aquatint on Paper Bold 3rd or 4th edition, circa 1868-1878, with burnished aquatints, drypoints etching, and engravings by Franc...

Salvador Dalí (1904-1989) – Spanish painter, graphic artist and sculptor. Drypoint with etching and pochoir on Japon paper "Elijah and the Chariot," 1975, (Horse and rider) from the "Our Historical Heritage" suite. Pencil signed along the lower right and numbered 53/250 along the lower left. Literature: Field 75-4 J Framed; Height: 29 in x width: 35 in. Mat opening 19.5 X 25.5. The Spanish artist’s extensive oeuvre not only includes watercolors, drawings and sculptures but also tapestries; here a fine example from the limited edition ‘The Twelve Tribes of Israel’ The tapestry was created after an etching by Salvador Dalí from 1973 with the title ‘The Tribe of Judah’, which the artist created as part of a suite to mark the 25th anniversary of the State of Israel, and in which he represented the twelve tribes of Israel. This vintage French tapestry is an impeccable textile re-creation of a rare Dali etching. This is a flat weave Aubusson style tapisserie. The edition size was 500. The tapestry is inscribed with woven ‘Salvador Dalí’ lower right Genre: Surrealism Subject: people, architecture rendering Medium: textile Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989) Salvador Dali is considered as the greatest original artist of the surrealist art movement and one of the greatest masters of art of the twentieth century. Dali began to study art at the Royal Academy of Art in Madrid. He was expelled twice and never took the final examinations. His opinion was that he was more qualified than those who should have examined him. In 1928 Dali went to Paris where he met the Spanish painters Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro. He established himself as the principal figure of a group of surrealist artists grouped around Andre Breton, who was something like the theoretical "schoolmaster" of surrealism. Years later Breton turned away from Dali accusing him of support of fascism, excessive self-presentation and financial greediness. By 1929 Dali had found his personal style that should make him famous - the world of the unconscious that is recalled during our dreams. The surrealist theory is based on the theories of the psychologist Dr. Sigmund Freud. Recurring images of burning giraffes and melting watches became the artist's surrealist trademarks. Along with Rene Magritte his is considered the greatest of the Surrealists. His great craftsmanship allowed him to execute his paintings in a nearly photo realistic style. No wonder that the artist was a great admirer of the vintage Italian Renaissance painter Raphael. Meeting Gala was the most important event in the artist's life and decisive for his future career. She was a Russian immigrant and ten years older than Dali. When he met her, she was married to Paul Eluard. In 1933 Salvador Dali had his first one-man show in New York. One year later he visited the U.S. for the first time supported by a loan of US$500 from Pablo Picasso. To evade World War II, Dali chose the U.S.A. as his permanent residence in 1940. He had a series of spectacular exhibitions, among others a great retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He has worked in paining, sculpture, tapestry, Daum glass and prints. Dali became the darling of the American High Society. Celebrities like Jack Warner or Helena Rubinstein gave him commissions for portraits. His artworks became a popular trademark and besides painting he pursued other activities - jewelry and dated clothing designs for Coco Chanel or film making with Alfred Hitchcock. In 1948 Dali and Gala returned to Europe, spending most of their time either in their residence in Ligate/Spain or in Paris/France or in New York. Dali developed a lively interest in science, religion and history. He integrated things into his art that he had picked up from popular science...

"The Meeting of Her Majesty's Stag Hounds on Ascot Heath" is a large colorful mezzotint engraving of an extensive British hunting scene. It was created by Sir Francis Grant...

SALVADOR DALI Le Cerf se voyant dans l'eau from Le Bestiaire de la Fontaine 1974 Hand signed by Dali Edition: /250 The dimensions of the image are 22.8 x 15.7 inches on 31 x 23.2 in...

Wassily Kandinsky - Horse Knight - Original Etching 32 x 24 cm 1966 From the art review XXe siècle, San Lazzaro Unsigned and unumbered as issued

Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 39; Unidentified tree with moth, caterpillar and pupa. The Netherlands: 1705....

[ Bird of Paradise] La Pie de paradise, vue par derriere , No.21, Paris 1801-1806 [Astrapia nigra]. Color-printed engraving with hand-coloring. French botanical and zoological illustrator Jacques Barraband (1767-1809) was known as one of the finest ornithological artists of his time .He is best known for his watercolors and engravings that were commissioned by François LeVaillant, French explorer, naturalist, zoological collector , noted ornithologist and author. Levaillant’s Histoire naturelle des perroquets (1801-05) and his Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de paradis (Birds of Paradise, 1801-06), both of which Barraband contributed to, are still considered some of the most beautiful bird books of all times because of their exceptional scientific accuracy, rich color and detail. The Astrapia nigra is a Bird of Paradise that inhabits the Vogelkop Peninsula of West Papua...

The Lizard is an aquatint and drypoint print on chine from one of the deluxe copies of Picasso's 1942 Histoire Naturelle - Textes de Buffon series. The image size is 10.5 x 8.15 inch...

A Fierce Bull. 1911. Drypoint. Hardie 108. 5 3/8 x 8 (sheet 8 5/16 x 11 7/8). Edition 8. An exceptional impression with rich drypoint burr printed on antique laid paper. A proof of t...