Sutherland (Graham Vivian)

, , 1927.
Graham Sutherland (1903-1980) studied etching under Frederick Griggs, working in an accomplished style in the pastoral tradition of William Blake and Samuel Palmer. This formed the basis of his early commercial success in the 1920s, selling to both British and American buyers. This plate, from 1927, is a good example, depicting a group of low-lying medieval buildings, a high garden wall and a tall woodstore and dovecote, the architectural lines softened by the surrounding trees, gently undulating ground and doves in flight, all backlit by the partially obscured setting or rising sun. However, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 significantly disrupted the market, and cast a long shadow over the world. Sutherland’s subsequent style took on a darker, more brooding air, and echoes of the more surreal forms of De Chirico and Nash that paved the way for his later work,.