Master Prints

Our Master Prints exhibition opened recently to considerable interest from print connoisseurs.  We are currently privileged to be showing some of the most prestigious names in 20th Century printmaking.The majority of this exhibition comes from the gallery's own collection making it a distillation of the best work from over 50 years of exhibitions.

Henry Moore OM, Two Heads (from La Poesie Suite), 1976
lithograph (dedicated 'for Curwen Press'),92 x 72cm, £2500 fr

This exhibition is a significant point in the gallery's history and serves to look back at the many great artists that we have shown over the years. Two prints included in the show have a particularly special place in the gallery as they were produced to mark the 40th and 50th anniversaries of Curwen.These anniversary prints are the Curwen 40th Anniversary Print by Patrick Heron made in 1998 and the 50th Anniversary Print made by John Hoyland in 2008.

Patrick Heron, Curwen 40th Anniversary Print, 1998
lithograph (HC ed.40), 85 x 105cm, £1850

This print holds a special place in Jill Hutchings, Director of Curwen Gallerys', heart as she joined Stanley Jones at "Eagles Nest",the home of Patrick Heron, to watch this particular print being made.John Hoyland's Curwen 50th Anniversary Print is also particularly special, not only because of the momentous occasion that it commemorated but also because John Hoyland sadly died earlier this year. 

John Hoyland RA, Anniversary Print (Curwen 50 Years), 2008

lithograph (ed.11/50), 78 x 64cm, £975 fr. £900 uf.

For those that listened to Stanley Jones' appearance on Radio 4 recently many of the print makers discussed on that program are featured in this exhibition. One addition to the show which we are very excited by is Barbara Hepworth's Itea. We were lucky enough to acquire this print from the Master Printer himself,good friend of the gallery Stanley Jones, who also has two prints featured in the exhibition.

Barbara Hepworth, Itea, 1971 (from the Aegean Suite)
lithograph, PP3, 70 x 92cm, £2500

Brendan Hansbro: Pugin's Dream

Pugin's Dream is an unconventional exhibition with a distinctly gothic feel.Brendan Hansbro has captured the architecture of the Houses of Parliament with characteristic brooding detail, embellishing the well known facades with a playful wit.

Brendan Hansbro, Bouquet, graphite on paper, 94 x 74cm, £975 fr.

In Leviathan an ominous tower looms from a white gold background.The building is transformed by Hansbro's eccentric rendering and his use of white gold leaf, elevating this structure of bricks and mortar to an otherworldly status.Cryptically Hansbro makes it unclear which Leviathan he references in the title; Hobbe's political sovereign or the Biblical serpent and gatekeeper of Hell.Both interpretations feel appropriate,the double meaning further contributing to the mystery surrounding Hansbro's complex, often mythological works.

Brendan Hansbro, Leviathan, graphite and gold leaf on paper, 94 x 74cm, £1250 fr.

 Some of the most popular works of this exhibition have been Hansbro's wood engravings in specially gilded frames.These very intricate prints have been selling well, with the Lion and Unicorn motifs proving to be very appealing to our visitors.These prints breath a little light hearted frivolity into a fairly serious exhibition.They manage to offset the ominous gothic edifices with cheeky characatures, possibly making references to the unsteady relationship between the English and Scottish governments.

Lion and Unicorn; Cling, wood engraving,ed.100, 27 x 21cm, £97.50 fr, £40 uf