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Sir Muirhead Bone (1876-1953) was a Scottish artist known for his piquant drypoint etchings, draughtsmanship and watercolours. Bone originally trained as an architect at the Glasgow School of Art. After initially taking night classes, he turned to printmaking in 1898. Self-taught, his early works likely took the style of those he studied, chiefly Charles Meryon and James Whistler. In 1901 Bone moved to London, quickly gaining a reputation, moving in the same circles as art collector Campbell Dodgson and D.Y. Cameron, a contemporary of Bone in etching and a fellow Scotsman. In 1916, Bone successfully campaigned for the role of the first official British War Artist, filling the position in both World War One and World War Two. Between the World Wars, Bone continued to build up a considerable reputation, exhibiting frequently in both London and New York. A mentor of many young artists, he served as a trustee of the Tate Gallery, the National Gallery and Imperial War Museum. He was knighted in 1937.
Bone's watercolours and lustrous drawings are evidence of his incredible skill in depicting often grim wartime landscapes and human activity. However, it is in his drypoints that we can see his true mastery over architectural detail. His strengths are in rendering line and balance to create dynamic cityscapes, concerned primarily with the existence of buildings in all their states, including the comings and goings of their construction. Bone's architectural training is a fetchingly persistent ‘backbone’ in these works.
Located on a site between Regent Street and Piccadilly, St James' Hall was a celebrated London concert hall where handsome performances were held for almost half a century between 1858 and 1905. The demolition of the hall which Bone so dramatically describes in this drypoint, occurred in 1905 upon the succession of the hall by venues such as the Queen’s Hall and the Royal Albert Hall. The demolition was documented by Bone through two drypoints, one of the ruined interior and this print, the exterior.
Bone captures the cavernous rib cage of the structure lying stark and bare, the vaults of the building bleaching in dramatic sunlight. Workmen swarm around the remains of the hall, their ropes and pulleys delicately hanging off the structure, while horses and carriages pass the demolition through the street in the foreground. The interplay of the monumental size of the hall against the surrounding buildings and the workmen below make it one of the artist's most dramatic and memorable early works.
Sources:
British Museum, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=131762
David Cohen, ‘Bone, Muirhead’, Grove Art Online, Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, accessed: 6 December 2017
National Galleries Scotland, https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/sir-muirhead-bone
Wikipedia, 'Muirhead Bone', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muirhead_Bone
Dr Mark Stocker Curator, Historical International Art August 2018