Julian Trevelyan RA Aigues Mortes

An original 1975 etching print, Julian Trevelyan RA, Aigues Mortes.

This fantastic original print is by renowned artist and printmaker Julian Trevelyan RA (1910–1988). A founding member of the British Surrealist Group, Trevelyan worked alongside Alberto Giacometti, André Masson, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró in Paris in the 1930s. He later became a leader of the etching revolution that began in the 1960s, and was an influential teacher, with students including David Hockney, Ron Kitaj and Norman Ackroyd.

This image shows a dreamlike depiction titled Aigues-Mortes, which is the name of a medieval walled town in southern France. Aigues-Mortes translates as 'dead waters', a reference to the semi-stagnant salt water marshes which surround the town and which historically brought great wealth and power. The medieval scene has a fairytale feel, evoking thoughts of legend and romance; the French town has a rich history of conquering heroes and suffering martyrs.

Trevelyan's artistic subjects were wide-ranging and often display his origins as one of the founding British Surrealists in the 1930s. As he reportedly declared, 'Let us gladly shout: to dream is to create'.

The print is a soft ground etching and aquatint, from three plates. The surface of the print is highly textural, whilst the style of delineation has an automatic, almost childlike, sense of meandering line.

Signed, titled and numbered 51/51 in pencil.

On TH Saunders watermarked thick wove paper with full margins. Sheet size: 61.5 x 76.5cm. Plate: 35.2 x 47.5cm.

Published by Leslie Waddington Prints Ltd, London, printed by Studio Prints, London.