Malvina

by Gerald L. Brockhurst (British, 1890–1978, active in the United States)

Etching

1929

Signed in pencil lower right. Signed in plate. Annotation in pencil along lower margin "Special Print". Full margins. Faint matburn from prior mounting and tape residue in upper corners. Otherwise, very good condition.

Plate: 7 3/4 x 5 7/8 inches 

Gerald Leslie Brockhurst was born October 31, 1890 in Birmingham, England. Exhibiting remarkable artistic skill from an early age, he was enrolled at the Birmingham School of Art at just age twelve, producing his first etching in 1904, and by 1907 he was a pupil at the Royal Academy Schools. He earned a travelling scholarship in 1913 to study and live in Italy and France, where he found inspiration in the drawings and paintings of Old Masters. The styles of Renaissance artists such as da Vinci and Botticelli would remain a major influence throughout his career, especially in his portraits. 

In 1919 he had his first major solo show in London, with his ethereal etchings of women against distant landscapes - similar in style to his 16th century idols but with a hint of the Surrealist in the compositions - especially gaining popularity. By 1920 he had begun a successful career as a portraitist, soon taking commissions from celebrities, politicians, and society figures. In this capacity his etchings were as popular as his paintings, and many of his most famous portraits are in the small, black and white format more closely associated with architectural and landscape imagery at the time. 

In 1921 he helped form the Society of Graphic Art in London and was elected to the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers. In 1932 Brockhurst produced his most famous etching, "Adolescence," which featured a young nude seated on a bed facing her reflection in a mirror. The large format etching was considered at the time one of the most important examples of printmaking in the 20th century, owning to its complexity and the deft naturalness the image conveyed. In 1937, he was elected to the Royal Academy. By then, his reputation as the leading English portraitist lent him a celebrity of his own. In 1939, Woodward moved to the United States, settling in New Jersey, and in 1951 he was elected to the National Academy of Design. Gerald Brockhurst died in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, on May 4, 1978.