ID: 2574
The Black Country
WADSWORTH, Edward
Category: Illustrated
Place/Publisher/Date:
London, Ovid Press.1920.
Description:
First edition; small folio; original cloth-backed boards. Initial devices and vignette by Wadsworth and 20 black and white plates. Wadsworth's working proof copy, with his annotations in pencil. Twelve of the proofs have the text supplied in pencil by the artist, the remaining eight are annotated in pencil 'OK'. Edward Wadsworth (1889–1949) was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire, the son of a prosperous mill owner. He studied engineering before taking up a place at the Slade. For a time he was associated with the Vorticists, and sought to reflect the mechanical and industrial advances of the early 20th century. Wadsworth would have seen the landscape of the Black Country from the train as he travelled from London to Liverpool, during the Great War, where he was engaged in painting dazzle camouflage on ships. The man-made landscape created by the slag heaps from coal and steel production, dotted with winding wheels, smoking furnaces and freight trains, held a particular beauty for the artist, combining his background with his artistic beliefs. Very good a little wear and marks to boards and a little spotting to one or two pages.
Price £2250.00
