Three drawings by Mabel Royds

 

I heard more today about what happened to the large collection of work by Mabel Royds that was left in her studio following her death in 1941. I have to say I was surprised by the variety but what you see here are three of the drawings sold by her daughter, Marjorie Barton, many years ago.  Despite that, Goldmark at Uppingham in Rutland still have drawings for sale. These three are amongst them and they probably represent some of the best drawings left you can still buy.

But Goldmark is not all there is to it. Those of you who cannot leave ebay alone will also know that there are more drawings there being sold by a long-time Royds dealer in Nottinghamshire. It may sound incredible but all the drawings you see here and the ones on ebay were part of the same horde that Marjorie Barton sold about 1984 when interest in colour woodcut was taking off.

Royds is not for the faint-hearted and I decided against using one of the Goldmark here in case e-blogger slapped a warning on Modern Printmakers. She was a great colourist as we all know, vibrant, subtle, uncompromising. She also had a powerful drawing style which increased in drama as art deco took hold. She was possibly the first woman to make male nudes (more or less) and I suspect this has not always helped some of the Indian prints to sell.

Anyway, you can buy any of these for less than you will pay for a print. If you can find one, that is.