Gerald Leslie Brockhurst
An Old Corsican.
1921

Name: An Old Corsican.
Brand: Gerald Leslie Brockhurst
Price: 650 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

An Old Corsican. 1921. Etching. Fletcher 27. 6 5/16 x 4 9/16 (11 1/2 x 9 3/8). Edition 76. A beautiful, rich impression with plate tone, printed on 'J. Whatman' laid paper on the full sheet with deckle edges. Signed in pencil. The model for this portrait was the wood engraver,Marquett, whose portrait Brockhurst had etched in 1925 (Fletcher 51) Housed in a 20 x 16-inch archival mat, suitable for framing. Born in Birmingham, the artist attended the Birmingham School of Art from the age of 12. Regarded as a 'young Botticelli' ,his drawing skills won him a gold medal and scholarship at the Royal Academy Schools in 1913. He studied in England, France and Italy, where he was profoundly influenced by Piero della Francesca, Botticelli and Da Vinci. After attending the Birmingham School of Art, Gerald L. Brockhurst entered the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he received the Gold Medal and Traveling Scholarship in 1913. The award allowed him to visit Paris and Italy, where he studied works by early Italian painters. Piero della Francesca and Leonardo da Vinci remained important influences. From 1915 to 1919, Brockhurst lived in Ireland, where he met painter Augustus John, whose painting style was influenced by contemporary French art's simplicity of color and forms. In 1919 Brockhurst returned to England for his first significant gallery exhibition. During the 1920's Brockhurst became an etcher, focusing primarily on female portraits and using his wife as his model. Coolness, technical perfection, and overt classicism mark both his printmaking style and his painting manner. By 1930 Brockhurst had returned to painting with a new teenage model, Dorette Woodard, whom he later married. His haunting portraits of her opened the door to fame and fortune, and he became a fashionable portrait painter; his stated goal was to capturing appearance, not character. His sitters included J. Paul Getty, Marlene Dietrich, and the Duchess of Windsor. In 1939, at the height of his success, Brockhurst settled in the United States. Gerald Brockhurst is best known for his portraits and etchings of glamorous women. Regarded from the age of twelve as a young Botticelli, he studied in England, France and Italy. Brockhurst's placement of a portrait within a surrounding landscape, recalls the work of Italian Renaissance masters, as there is a sense of mystery and the unknown, which separates the viewer from the sitters. Brockhurst's sitters are given extra emphasis by their surroundings and are usually composed close-up, looking straight at you, positioned in shallow space, against a ledge, or against a blank background. By changing the pose, setting or costume he could seemingly transform the model into an entirely different person.

Creator:

Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (1890 - 1978, English)

Creation Year:

1921

Dimensions:

Height: 20 in (50.8 cm)Width: 16 in (40.64 cm)Depth: 0.5 in (1.27 cm)

Medium:

Etching

Movement & Style:

Modern

Period:

Early 20th Century