The bathing pool

item details

NameThe bathing pool

ProductionPercival Gaskell; artist; 1910-1930

Classificationprints, mezzotints, works on paper

Materialsink, paper

Materials Summarymezzotint and etching

Techniquesmezzotint, etching

DimensionsImage: 300mm (width), 222mm (height)

Registration Number1965-0001-14

Credit lineGift of Sir John Ilott, 1965

Overview

George Percival Gaskell (1868-1934) was born at Shipley in Yorkshire and educated in Cambridge. He studied art at the Royal College of Art with Frank Short, as well as in Paris and Italy. A university extension lecturer in art history, particularly the Italian Renaissance, he became Headmaster of the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art in London for over thirty years (1898-1931). In printmaking, he practised etching, and particularly mezzotint and aquatint.

According to Campbell Fine Art, Gaskell developed a sensitivity to atmospheric tone which is displayed in an air of timeless beauty throughout his printed works. This is particularly evident in this mezzotint/etching The bathing pool, where he creates an idyllic, arcadian world of water, foliage and nude male bathers, which was certainly influenced by the style and subject matter of the major 19th century French symbolist artist Puvis de Chavannes.

See:

Blue Heron Gallery, 'George Percival Gaskell', http://www.blueherongallery.net/george-percival-gaskell/

Campbell Fine Art, http://www.campbell-fine-art.com/artists.php?id=47

Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art April 2018