Coming up on 18th January at Bearnes in Exeter are two fairly early colour linocuts by S.G. Boxsius. The main attraction will be his early technicolour masterpiece, Rain, St. Michael's Mount, depicting the famous island at the end of its causeway underneath some of the most improbable cloud and light effects in colour print history. The colours are intensely weird, the detail sublime. Be warned, though. The premium is 36%, including tax.
Boxsius began exhibiting work at the Royal Academy in 1913, soon after he graduated from the Royal College of Art, but no prints appeared until Rain, St. Michael's Mount was exhibited at the Royal Society of Arts in 1928. It was then sent to the Graver Printers in 1930. Why this happened, I do not know. William Giles was probably his teacher during his first period of study at the R.C.A. between 1898 and 1899. Giles thought well enough of Boxsius to ask for an article about linocut for 'The colour print journal'. The feeling was mutual. Aside from the coastline of Cornwall, the main inspiration for Rain, St. Michael' Mount was Giles' ravishing Rainbow, Isle of Jura (above) made after a visit he and his wife made to Jura in 1922. Typically, Boxsius turned the whole thing on its head and took Giles' very large print and reduced its size considerably. (He went on to do the same thing with Georges Seurat's Bathers, Asnieres acquired by the Tate Gallery from the French collector and dealer, Felix Feneon in 1926.)
The second print in the sale is Ruins at Walberswick (above) which I have written about already. I tend to think it shows the influence of Elizabeth Keith's East Gate, Seoul. It also became a model for an early Eric Slater print. Anything by Boxsius is worth having. What you will have to pay is another thing. But we can all take this as an indicator of how prices are going. Judging by the Slater fetching £500, it does not necessarily mean they are rising.
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