Well, here's a neat coincidence. Readers who recall the recent post 'A day on the Thames' may also recognise the red sails of a Thames sailing barge in this print by the well-known Australian purveyor of colour woodcuts, John Hall Thorpe. This feeble sub-Germanic effort of his comes up soon on British ebay and just goes to show he couldn't draw and couldn't compose a picture. Readers only have to compare Ethel Kirkpatrick's woodcut of the same subject to see what I am talking about. No matter. The seller is quite right to be confident this will go and has started it off at next-to-nothing. It's also a fair and wise approach to something both weak and unusual. I am only disappointed that they don't seem to having been paying attention. No matter. There are three bids in already on what is after all a collector's print. And this is not to decry Hall Thorpe as a decorative printmaker either. I loved having his Marigolds above the fireplace in the 1970s. It suited the times to a T but it disappeared and I have never been able to bring myself to fork out the going rate just to replace it. He is the Clarice Cliff of the colour woodcut and nothing wrong with that, specially if you had picked Marigolds up at Mrs Treasure's (dealers names don't come better than that) for all of £1.25 (just over €1). And it will certainly be interesting to see whether good sense prevails over vanity, cupidity and all the rest. And I very much doubt that it will.
Yes, it's pretty dismal. If it didn't have the name Hall Thorpe attached to it, it's hard to see that anybody would want to bother with it. Thoroughly insipid.
ReplyDeleteCharles, it might have been wiser considering JHT a poster maker/designer. "Piccadilly" illuminating my point. As such his brave excursions beyond the popular (and beautiful) flower posters "created in the woodblock style" like this River Banks needn't be the subject of negative comparing with the more talented and proper printmakers. Of course he could draw (and print), but not as good as Kirckpatrick a.o. I think JTH earned his own very specific place among (aesthetic) British artists. Besides this copy is faded and dirty beyond recognition.
ReplyDeleteAlso I am afraid we (you and I) won’t see the return of good sense in our lifetimes. Only catastrophe, a meteorite or a crisis (hmmm.....) might induce that.
I love my Marigolds which I was glad to buy at a sensible price. But to be honest quite a bit more then "just over €1".
Kirkpatrick's print of the Thames is hard to top, anyway!
ReplyDeleteKlaus
Now, Gerrie, 'Dawn' was chosen for me by the market and it was an opportunity too good to miss. The seller insists the print isn't faded. Apart from that, it was very interesting to see JHT attempting a subject that was quite clearly beyond him. The conception and the drawing is so poor, I am led to a number of conclusions but one of them is this - he knew Kirkpatrick's print. No, it's just too daft! The flower prints are very jolly but they are mass-produced and play at being artists prints. This is exactly why I am right to mock his efforts here. This is supposed to be an artist's print and includes a laughable arty title to emphasise the fact. The fact that he went on to be a commercial success was nice for him and amusing for us. I never said I would be fair to everybody. And 'Tales from ebay' is haji baba's revenge!
ReplyDeleteCharles
God, it's awful, the Germanics and Anglos could and did do much better even on their bad days. Insipid is the perfect adjective Anthony, but it's a bit brutal to compare it to Kirkpatrick. How can anyone compare?
ReplyDeleteClive
WOW !!! you really don't like eBay or eBay dealers. Or is this an attempt to put doubt in potential bidders' minds, so much so that they don't bid !! and some one gets it cheap !! even more downward pressure on prices; soon every thing will be worth your €1 - Woodblock Gremlin
ReplyDeleteDon't be silly.
ReplyDeleteWoodblock Gremlin, it has nothing to do with Ebay or Ebay dealers! You are completely missing the point of both the articles and the comments. Ebay is a wonderful place for buying and selling. However, it is also a fool's paradise for the unsuspecting buyer who may not be able to see through the bluff and bluster. Nor does it have anything to do with the sellers, many are honest and many are scrupulous, some are amateurs selling off "stuff" and still others are devious and deceitful. Furthermore all art is not equal, even art by the same artist, and you would be laughed out of an art auction or fine arts lecture if you suggested that it wasn't so. All artists have good days and bad days, and for that reason there is good art and bad art, aesthetically my tastes are likely to be different from yours. There is no downward pressure on prices, in fact the contrary is true. More information (such as that provided by this blog) arms people with knowledge and ideas that they can use in order to buy. The problem is, you see it as a game of money. True collectors see it as something altogether different.
ReplyDeleteClive
WOW !!! What a great compliment of the anonymous Gremlin to think you are really capable of influencing the ignorant and Ebay prices. It was sold notwithstanding at a silly price. I profhesied we wouldn't see the return of good sense and defeat of vanity in our life times.
ReplyDeleteYes, he has given me an idea for a new post: woodblock trolls. But it will have to wait untill the current series has run its course.
ReplyDeleteYes, I was gobsmacked by the price as well. There is so much you can do with £182.77. Buy Greece, for instance. Or pour it down the drain. Or spend it all on sweeties.
Why would anyone anywhere want it? You see, of course, the old devil has a new one up. Actually, quite nice. But I'm going to abandon 'Tales from ebay'. I'm in danger of busting a gut laughing.
HB