Gerald Leslie Brockhurst
, English, 1890-1978
Title
MaureenDate1923
MediumEtching on paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 29 x 22.9 cm
Plate: 11.4 x 7.7 cm
Signedlower right (under image, in pencil): G.L. Brockhurst
in reverse (in the plate): Brockhurst
Credit LinePurchased, 2006
Object numberNGI.2006.7
DescriptionBrockhurst, an English painter and etcher, studied at the Birmingham School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. He began etching around 1914 and in 1921 was elected to the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers. His portrait etchings made between the World Wars rank among his best work. He lived in Ireland between 1915 and 1919 and developed friendships with Augustus John and Oliver St John Gogarty. His Irish period was one of the most productive and important of his career. This etching is one of 11 proofs of the fourth and final state of this print. Usually modelled after drawings or paintings, his prints were often made quite some time after the original portrait. This fine etching, sometimes known as Patricia, is based on an oil portrait of his French wife Anaïs Folin, whom he married in 1914. Entitled Ireland (1916; Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow), the oil was painted while Brockhurst was based in Ireland. He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and remained there for the rest of his life, becoming a US citizen in 1949.
March 2016
Inscriptionlower centre of sheet (in pencil): Maureen S.S.R.