Reginald Blomfield

A virtuoso of portraits and scenes of the working class with a sharp eye for depicting the truth of his subjects, William Strang (1859-1921) was a revered draughtsman and painter; however his most lucrative and productive mode of creation was printmaking, an integral part of his career throughout his lifetime. Critics such as Maurice Harold Grant noted Strang as a printmaker who was ‘keenly observant’ in all stages required of printmaking, particularly in his ability to transfer his immaculately drawn line into an equally impressive bitten plate.

Born in Dumbarton, Scotland in 1859 to working-class parents, Strang moved to London in 1875 at the age of 16. The following year he enrolled at the Slade School of Art, where he studied under the French Realist, Alphonse Legros. Strang excelled particularly in Legros’ recently introduced etching class, serving as Assistant Master in the class for two years after graduating. Strang’s style was heavily influenced by Legros; both artists having working-class backgrounds, leading to a strong undercurrent of social justice in many of Strang’s works. Early in his career Strang made many etchings of working class life in a realist manner, as well as works of allegory and delightfully macabre fantasy. An increase in requests for commissions in after the mid-1890s meant that Strang focused more on portraiture and painting. However, he still continued to work as a printmaker throughout his career – becoming President of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers in 1918. A month before his death in 1921, Strang was elected an Engraver Member of the Royal Academy.

Strang is perhaps best known for his etchings of famous artistic and literary sitters such as the art historian and curator Campbell Dodgson (Te Papa 1968-0001-43) and author Rudyard Kipling (Te Papa 1956-0001-17). While many of his portraits were commissioned, Strang’s artistic preoccupations did not lie with capturing the ‘beauty’ of the sitter. Instead he picks out the most human traits of the individual, highlighting their idiosyncracies and favouring honesty and psychological intensity over glamour and handsomeness.

Reginald Blomfield (1856–1942) was a British architect, Royal Academician and garden designer. Originally part of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he progressed to elegant French classical revivalism of the Louis XV period, and in older age he memorably denounced the aesthetics and socialist politics of modernism.

This etched portrait has harder lines than that of Strang’s drypoint portraits such as Emery Walker (Te Papa 1969-0017-14). The use of the etched line creates a similar appearance to that of the 'unfinished but complete' portraits of Antony van Dyck such as Jan Brueghel (1645) (Te Papa 1952-0003-173). Strang takes note not only of van Dyck’s half-finished tendency, but also in his rejection of adventitious light and shade. Blomfield appears pensive rather than the more pugnacious, reactionary architect that he became later in life.

Sources:

Laurence Binyon, William Strang: Catalogue of his Etched Work (Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1906), pp. vii–xvii.

Maurice Harold Grant, A Dictionary of British Etchers, (London: Rockliff, 1953), pp. 196-197.

National Galleries Scotland: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/william-strang

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Strang

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   January 2018