Edward Wadsworth (British, 1889-1949) Riponelli: A Village in Lemnos

Lot description

Edward Wadsworth (British, 1889-1949) Riponelli: A Village in Lemnos 1917 woodcut on wove framed Dimensions:(sheet 17.1 x 13.3 image 10.1 x 7.5) Provenance: Private London Collection Reference: see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 2019.592.309; The British Museum, London, accession number 2004,0602.152 for other examples of this edition Notes: Edward Wadsworth was born in 1889, Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, and raised in the industrial city of Bradford. With the expectation that he would eventually take over the family business, Wadsworth was sent to boarding school at the age of ten and later to Munich to study German and engineering. Throughout his education, he demonstrated a strong interest in art, and while in Munich he immersed himself in the city’s vibrant cultural scene, spending much of his spare time drawing and learning woodcut printing, a medium flourishing in the region at the time. Upon his return to England, much to his father’s disappointment, Wadsworth declared his intention to pursue a career as an artist rather than enter the family mill. He enrolled at the Slade School of Art, where he studied alongside Stanley Spencer, C.R.W. Nevinson, and Dora Carrington. During this period, Wadsworth developed a fascination with machinery, rooted in his industrial upbringing, a subject matter that proved particularly well suited to printmaking. Wadsworth’s work increasingly aligned with Futurist and avant-garde ideas, and after forming a close friendship with Wyndham Lewis, he joined The Rebel Art Centre and became a key figure within the Vorticist movement. In 1916 as imposed conscription came into force, Wadsworth enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He was sent to Greece and stationed on the island of Lemnos, where he worked analysing aerial photographs. Riponelli: A Village in Lemnos was based on studies made during this period. The print exemplifies Wadsworth’s Vorticist style, transforming the Mediterranean village into a dynamic composition of precariously balanced houses arranged across hilly terrain. Sharp walls and angular windows collide and interlock, forming a dense configuration of geometric forms that convey both structure and instability. In 1917, the same year this print was produced, Wadsworth was recalled to England to assist with the transfer of dazzle camouflage for the Royal Navy. This technique used bold optical patterns designed to confuse enemy observers attempting to determine the type, speed, and direction of British ships. Between 1913 and 1921, he focused intensively on printmaking, producing approximately fifty woodcuts alongside a small number of lithographs and etchings. His prints are immediately recognisable for their strong tonal contrasts and vertigo-inducing manipulation of space and perspective.