Windy night, Stockholm.

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.

A dark and vigorous work; the river Norrström flows through the foreground, in which six fishing boats float. Each of them carries a round fishing net and are moored to the wall of the Strömparterren, a public garden. People lean on the rails, watching the men as they fish. Two poplars sway in the wind towards the left, dramatically catching highlights in their leaves. In a gap between the trees is a fountain, with a statue rising from its centre. Beyond the Norrbro Bridge on the left, is the Royal Opera House, the façade of which is brilliantly lit against the dark and stormy night. Bone created deep and rich swathes of ink throughout the drypoint by utilising the burr, allowing it to retain the ink. The drypoint is topographically incorrect, the subject being shown in reverse from the trial plate, which was true to nature.

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

Harold J. Wright, ‘Sir Muirhead Bone; Catalogue of prints from 1908 to 1939 being a continuation of Campbell Dodgson’s Catalogue of etchings and drypoints from 1898-1907’, Photocopied by the British Museum from the typescript in the possession of Messrs P & D Colnaghi, August, 1981, pl. 457, pp. 191-193

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   December 2017