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William Strang (1859-1921)

A self-portrait c. 1885

Etching with a little plate tone | 24.8 x 16.9 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 662338

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  • A self-portrait etching of William Strang; almost half length, full face, seated behind a table. He has an etching needle in his right hand, resting on an etching plate. Printed on watermarked paper, signed in the margin in pencil: Wm Strang.

    William Strang was born in Dumbarton and at the age of 17 moved to London, where he was to spend the rest of his life. At the Slade School he fell under the spell of Alphonse Legros (RCIN 657906), who introduced him to etching; printmaking was to be Strang’s principal medium for much of his career. Though this finely etched plate appears at first sight to be unfinished, this is a deliberate ploy to focus attention on the artist’s intense expression (crowned by his tam-o’-shanter) and his hand holding the etching needle. The immediacy of the image suggests that the 26-year-old Strang executed the etching directly, in front of a mirror: both the mirror and the act of printing reverse the image, so in the print Strang is seen correctly right-handed.

    Text adapted from Portrait of the Artist, London, 2016
    Provenance

    Purchased from William Strang, 22 April 1908

  • Medium and techniques

    Etching with a little plate tone

    Measurements

    24.8 x 16.9 cm (sheet of paper)

    20.2 x 12.6 cm (platemark)

  • Category
    Object type(s)
  • Alternative title(s)

    William Strang


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