Also this issue: Prints and the Revolution IMPRINT hits the streets with an art invasion. -Lori Hill Book Tour With the “Art on the Page” exhibit, more than just politicians are getting booked at City Hall. -Robin Rice The Passion of Dracula -Steve Cohen Museum Studies 6: Richard Hamilton -A.D. Amorosi

August 29-September 4, 2002

artpicks

The Etching Club of London: A Taste for Painters' Etchings

Before 1838, etching was a thing of the past. It was in that year that the Etching Club of London formed and the mode of illustration was thrust back into "modern" culture as a vital contemporary art form. The club embodied such esteemed pencil-pushers as Victorian painters Richard Redgrave and Charles West Cope and before the group called it quits in 1885, artists William Holman Hunt and Samuel Palmer were also participants. In all, the group published 10 volumes of original etchings, many of which illustrated literary works.

Curated by Andrea Fredericksen, The Etching Club of London: A Taste for Painters' Etchings, part of a collection originally acquired by Philadelphian and big-time 19th-century works-on-paper enthusiast John S. Phillips, presents 20 rare prints produced during the club's early years, together with a number of works from the latter period. The exhibit provides a survey of the Etching Club's critical role in fostering a taste for contemporary painters' etchings at a time when prints done as reproductions of other works dominated the market.

The Etching Club of London: A Taste for Painters’ Etchings, Aug. 31-Jan. 2, Eglin Gallery, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 26th Street and the Parkway, 215-763-8100.

—Karen Williams

-- Respond to this article in our Forums -- click to jump there