Burmese dancers

Charles William Cain (1893-1962) was an etcher, painter and watercolourist. He studied at Camberwell School of Art and then as an illustrator cartoonist for the Johannesburg Star until he served in the army in World War One, when he first attracted attention. Shortly after war the Imperial War Museum purchased 30 of his drawings. He studied at the Royal College of Art with Frank Short 1920-1 and published his first engraving in 1921. During the 1920s and 1930s, Cain produced 74 original etchings and engravings, all published in London by Greatorex. Most of his prints deal with scenes in Iraq, Persia, Indian and Burma, as in this charming drypoint. It is hardly surprising that Cain developed a strong reputation as a major Orientalist printmaker. Today, a large collection of his drypoints can be found at the British Museum.

Burmese dancers is one of the best known of Cain's drypoints and one of his larger plates. It was considered by the artist as the companion and counterbalance to his dark and heavily worked drypoint The Nautch Dancers, depicting a group of Indian dancing girls.

See: https://www.roeandmoore.com/artists/charles-cain/

Dr Mark Stocker  Curator Historical International Art   April 2018