Mortimer Menpes

From 1875 the Australian painter, printmaker and book illustrator, Mortimer Menpes, studied under Alphonse Legros and others at the National Art Training School in South Kensington, London. As a member of the Society of Painter-Etchers he participated regularly in its annual exhibitions and made a name for himself as a talented portraitist. While in Brittany (1881–83) he met James McNeill Whistler, who was to exert a decisive artistic influence on him. His biography Whistler as I Knew Him (1904) testifies to their association. Menpes undertook journeys inter alia to Japan, India, Italy, Morocco and Mexico and subsequently staged innovatively designed exhibitions in London that contributed to the spread of Japanism. In the 1890s he experimented with coloured prints. The Japanese-inspired design of the studio he opened in Chelsea in 1899 attracted art enthusiasts and buyers alike. From 1900 he ran a commercial printing house. A highly prolific artist, he had his last major individual exhibition in 1913, but went on to produce hundreds of other works up to his death. 

The present charming study sheet, which shows the author’s famous fellow-artist in various poses, arose shortly before the latter’s death. A few lines and systematic use of the burr of the drypoint suffice to provide a fascinating characterisation in the portraits and hand studies, while other features remain sketchy. A very fine impression, printing with burr, with fine plate tone and wide margins around the distinct platemark. 

5.400 €