Sunrise

In relation to his obvious prowess as a printmaker, there is surprisingly and disappointingly little information that is readily accessible about Sydney Litten (1887-1934). Even the date of his death is often wrongly given as 1949 because of the demise that year of a near namesake, Sidney Litton.

Litten studied art at St. Martin's School of Art and etching at the Royal College of Art under Frank Short and became Senior Master at St Martin's School, exhibitingat the Royal Academy and the New English Art Club. He did the majority of his work in Spain and Italy but also the Netherlands. Fifty-one of his prints are recorded in the annual Fine Prints of the Year between 1926 and 1935. Like Whistler and McBey he did his etchings in series such as his Thames images and two Venice Sets of four prints each, done in 1928. Venice was the subject for fifteen etchings, exhibited until 1935, the year after his death in London. Sydney Litten was the father of the artist Maurice Sydney Litten (1919-1979).

The portrait painter and printmaker Andrew Freeth wrote of the older Litten: "To many friends he seemed a gentle faun. His work was sustained on two levels; one - traditional, sensitive, topographical realism, the other - imaginative and poetic...All his work is deeply sincere, soundly drawn and inspired by a genuine passion for nature and an awareness of the mystery which lies behind the usual world."

This etching/drypoint combination addresses favourite themes in Litten: times of day (in this case, as the title implies, sunrise), a boat - in this case with a man walking the gang-plank and a woman on the shore holding a basket; and above all the effect of light on water, with the telling use of plate tone. Unlike his Venetian and Dutch scenes, the setting is deliberately nondescript.

See: The Annex Galleries, 'Sidney Mackenzie Litten Biography', https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/1413/Litten/Sidney

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   September 2018