Yozo Hamaguchi Art

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...

“Columbines Pl. 162” A Weinmann, Johann, Wilhelm Mezzotint Engraving With Some Hand Coloring from Johan Wilhelm Weinmann’s ( 1683-1741 ) Phytanthoza Iconographia, a comprehensive sci...

(After) Francis Bacon Meat Carcass and Bird of Prey, 1986 Original vintage poster (hight quality offset) On heavy paper 78 x 45 cm (c. 31 x 18 in) Edited by by Maeght for the artist...

Newport Boats was Inspired by a Trip to the beautiful coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales. This Beautiful stretch of Wales joins the Cardigan Bay and is known for its breathtaking scenery. The boats are dotted about and a wonderful violet strip of land juts out in the distance. The sea blends into the sky. The painting is very free, with lovely thick layers in an impasto style. Newport Boats is painted on primed Aluminum, giving it a reflective wonderful quality. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Oil, Oil Paint on Metal 13 H x 13 W x 1 D cm (5.12 x 5.12 x 0.39 in) Sold unframed Image size: Height: 13cm (5.12 in) Width: 13cm (5.12 in) Complete size of unframed painting Height: 13cm (5.12 in) Width: 13cm (5.12 in) Depth: 1cm (0.39 in) ARTIST BIOGRAPHY: Eleanor Woolley was born on the Island of Jersey, and moved to Gloucestershire where she was drawn to the outdoors, always taking walks in the landscape. Her first true love for painting came from an inspirational Art...

Finns always seek the solace of nature. Is this mysterious stairway an escape from the challenges of civilization? Vanttinen created this mezzotint in an edition of 100 and it is tit...

This colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving finished with hand coloring by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) is entitled "A. Ephemerum Virginianu flore Purpureo, B. Ephemer...

This Finnish artist creates a mezzotint in black and white. This impression is #44 of 100 and is signed, dated and titled in pencil. Jukka Vanttinen (Finn, b. 1954) Jukka Vanttinen...

KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure, 2011 The KAWS x Peanuts Joe Snoopy Vinyl Figure stands about 21 cm tall, and the mostly white Joe Snoopy is donning a yellow t-shirt with "JOE...

Flowers is a beautiful offset print, realized in 1973 by the Italian artist Giovanni Omiccioli (Rome, 1901-1975). a poster of artist artworks exhibited in Gallery Rondanini from 1971...

The illusions and reflections in Sietins prints often bring M.C. Escher to mind, but his prints have a distinctive feel all their own. This is one of the smallest prints done by Siet...

Hino creates a still life of a lotus from an edition of 65. A prominent figure in Buddhist and Egyptian culture, and native flower for both India and Vietnam, the lotus holds enormous symbolic weight. It spans various thousand-year-old Eastern cultures and yet, is still considered one of the most sacred flowers today. So what is it about this mysterious blossom that people find so enrapturing? Its colorful bloom is an obvious suspect, but the lotus also has a life cycle unlike any other. With its roots based in mud, it submerges every night into murky river water, and—undeterred by its dirty environment—it miraculously re-blooms the next morning without residue on its petals. Although cultures have their own interpretations of this daily process, there is a general consensus among ancient texts...

Original Los Angeles, United Air Lines vintage travel poster. Archival linen backed in A- condition, ready to frame. Images shown are of the exact poster you will receive. Step ...