Sedbergh School

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall

Pupils in uniform gather along a fence around a green to watch a cricket match in this print of Sedburgh School in Yorkshire. It is one of a number of public schools that Edwin La Dell featured in 11 lithographs printed at the RCA c.1964. These are part of series by Editions Alecto started in 1961 commissioning artists including John Piper, Edward Ardizzone and Valerie Thornton, to depict public boys’ schools throughout England and Scotland.

Edwin la Dell took up colour lithography in 1933 and developed a distinctive style with the medium, with a strong sense of design and use of atmospheric effects. As Head of the Printmaking Department at the Royal College of Art (RCA), he set up an exchange programme between students in London and Paris, leading to the advancement of the medium in both countries.

Born in Rotherham, Edwin La Dell won scholarships to Sheffield School of Art and the Royal College of Art (RCA), where he studied under John Nash and Percy Horton. Often using flat colour overlays, his work conveyed a strong sense of design as well as an interest in atmospheric effects. During the Second World War, he joined the Civil Defence Camouflage Establishment in Leamington Spa, working as a camouflage designer. He became involved with the Artists International Association and also submitted work to the War Artists Advisory Committee. In 1943, he was sent on active service, first in Belgium and then on the German Front. From 1946 to 1949, he produced paintings, lithographs and murals for the Central Office of Information. After the War, he continued making art and was employed as a teacher, initially working as a tutor at the RCA in 1948 before becoming Head of the Printmaking. In this role, his impact on post-war printmaking and future generations of printmakers was enormously influential. His works are represented in several public collections including Tate and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Places

England, Yorkshire, Cumbria

Subjects

cricket, topography, hill, crowd, field, fence, pavilion, school, house

Materials & Techniques

lithograph

Artist

Edwin La Dell (1914 - 1970)

Title

Sedbergh School

Series Title

Public Schools Series

Edition

A/P

Date

Medium

Lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from Editions Alecto, March 1971

Inscription

below image: Artists proof / Sedberg [sic] / Edwin La Dell

GAC number

9222