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Samuel Arlent Edwards Figurative Prints

British, 1861-1938

Samuel Arlent Edwards was born in 1862 in Somerset, England. He studied art and architecture at the Kensington Museum Art School from 1877–81 and then continued studies in engraving with Appleton, Josey & Alais in London. He achieved early success in making mezzotint reproductions of well-known paintings, a path he was to follow all his life. In 1887, he enjoyed the distinction of having an engraving exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. In 1890, he came to the United States and established himself in New York as a book illustrator under the name S. Arlent Edwards. He then began to work on color printing from a single mezzotint plate, an art dormant since late in the 18th century. He abhorred the traditional practice of touching up imperfect prints by hand, and he routinely penciled in this statement just above his signature, "Engraved and printed in color at one printing without retouching." Edwards himself inked and printed each plate for every copy, and therefore no two prints were exactly alike. He made only a limited number of copies of each work, insisting that each is sold framed, and then he destroyed each plate. His engravings were sold to subscribers by major dealers such as D. B. Butler and M. Knoedler in New York. In 1910, he returned to Europe, living in Bruges, Belgium, continuing to issue mezzotints from there. He remained in Bruges throughout World War I despite the German occupation. When Allied troops entered Bruges at the end of the war, he acquired instant notoriety by being the first to fly the American flag. Edwards returned to the United States in 1934, settling in Westport, Connecticut. Edwards died there in November 1938.

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Artist: Samuel Arlent Edwards
Portrait of Margaret van Eyck
By Samuel Arlent Edwards
Located in Missouri, MO
A mezzotint by Samuel Arlent Edwards after the 1439 oil on wood painting by the Early Netherlandish master Jan van Eyck, titled, Portrait of Margaret van Eyck. The print is signed to the lower right margin. The image depicts the van Eyck’s wife, clothed in a red robe lined in squirrel fur...
Category

19th Century Samuel Arlent Edwards Figurative Prints

Materials

Mezzotint

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He received the National Academy of Design Print Award (1949), the New York Times Best Illustrated Award (1973), and the Regina Award (Catholic Library Association, 1975). ‘The Biggest Bear,’ a children’s book with illustrations by Ward, was the recipient of the esteemed 1952 Caldecott Medal of the American Library Association. An Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, Ward was a member and board member of the National Academy of Design and the Artists’ League of America. He served several terms as president of the Society of American Graphic Artists and was a member of the American Artists Congress and the Society of Illustrators. Ward exhibited at the American Artists Congress; the National Academy of Design; the John Herron Art Institute; and the Library of Congress. He had a one-person show at Associated American Artists, NY, on the publication of his monograph 'Storyteller Without Words,' 1974; AAA mounted a memorial exhibition in 1986. The May 1976 issue of 'Bibliognost,' a book collector’s publication, was dedicated to Ward. ‘Lynd Ward, His Bookplate Designs,’ an article by Dan Burne Jones, was published in the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers Yearbook, 1981/82. In 2001, sixteen years after his death, Rutgers University Libraries published ’Lynd Ward’s Last Unfinished Wordless Novel.’ The blocks were intended to be part of a novel in woodcuts, the first since Vertigo, but Ward did not live to complete the project. Master printer and book designer Barbara Henry collated and printed the twenty-six finished blocks out of the forty-four initially planned for the still unnamed narrative. In 2010 the Library of America honored Ward’s achievements with the meticulous production of a collection of Ward’s woodcut novels—the first time the Library had gone wordless. The publication replicated his original editions with a single full-size image printed on the right page of each double-page spread. 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By James Jacques Joseph Tissot
Located in Storrs, CT
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Samuel Arlent Edwards figurative prints for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Samuel Arlent Edwards figurative prints available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Samuel Arlent Edwards in engraving, mezzotint and more. Not every interior allows for large Samuel Arlent Edwards figurative prints, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Thomas Holloway, George Cruikshank, and Thomas Rowlandson.

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