Santa Maria Novella

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Julian Trevelyan, a painter and printmaker, was born in Dorking in Surrey. He read English Literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1928 to 1930, and it was here that he was introduced to French painting and Surrealism. He left Cambridge to move to Paris in 1931, where he attended the important printmaking studio Atelier 17, run by English artist Stanley William Hayter. Atelier 17 attracted both up-and-coming artists and established ones, and Trevelyan worked alongside the likes of Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. The influence of these two artists’ works can be seen in Trevelyan’s Surrealist prints of the early 1930s. Trevelyan returned to England in 1934, and two years later, a number of his works were selected for the International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936. He joined the English Surrealist Group the following year, but resigned in 1938. At this time he was also involved in the photography project ‘Mass Observation’, an anthropological approach to studying working class life. During the Second World War, Trevelyan was employed in camouflage work and was sent to Africa and the Middle East. In 1950 he was made a member of the London Group and painted a series of murals for the Festival of Britain. He taught at Chelsea School of Art from 1950 to 1955, in which year he became a tutor of engraving at the Royal College of Art. He was later made head of the etching department, and held this post until 1963. Trevelyan’s book Etching, Modern Methods of Intaglio Printmaking (published in 1963), was a key work on modern printmaking, and in 1965 he became a founder member of the Printmakers’ Council. Trevelyan travelled widely with his second wife, the artist Mary Fedden, often producing sketches on his travels, which he would then work up into paintings or prints on his return. He was awarded a Senior Fellowship of the Royal College of Art in 1986 and the following year was appointed a Royal Academician. He died in Hammersmith, London, in 1988.

Places

Italy, Florence, Tuscany

Subjects

car, topography, townscape/cityscape, bird, sun, man, woman, church, facade

Materials & Techniques

etching, aquatint

Artist

Julian Trevelyan (1910 - 1988)

Title

Santa Maria Novella

Portfolio Title

Florence Suite

Edition

56/100

Date

1965-1966

Medium

Etching and aquatint

Acquisition

Purchased from Editions Alecto, January 1971

Inscription

Edition number should have been A/P according to original invoice but is 56/100 (print switched with L1042)

GAC number

L613