The Impressed Image
Gallery Featured Print
Edgar Holloway (1914 - )
Printmaker, watercolourist, calligrapher and teacher, Holloway was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire. He attended classes
at his local school of art from 14 and held his first solo exhibition at 17. He earned sufficient from etching and
portraiture to attend the Slade School of Fine Art under Randolph Schwabe and proved to be an outstanding
draughtsman. Although highly regarded by his contemporaries and critics the market for etching was in steep decline
by his second solo exhibition in 1934. In the ensuing years he made a meagre living from portrait commissions,
etchings and watercolours. He travelled widely on the continent in 1936 with the Scottish artist William Wilson
who significantly influenced the mood of his work. During World War II taught for a while, but illness prevented
him continuing and in 1941 converted to Catholicism and married a disciple of Eric Gill (Daisy Monica) whom he met
at his artists community in Wales. The pressures of family life forced him to relinquish etching and 'fine art' and
from 1947 he earned his living from lettering, signwriting, calligraphy, wood engraving, cartography, and was a
prolific designer of book jackets for many major publishers. He settled in Ditchling, Sussex, in 1949 and became
a member of the Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic in which Gill was involved. In 1968 he returned to watcrcolour
and, after his retirement, line engraving, which he continues to this day. He is remarkable for a series of 23 self
portraits showing himself from an intense 17yr old to a spritely 78yr old! Holloway showed regularly at the Royal
Academy and the Society of Artist Printmakers, both of which he was a member. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford hold
a complete set of his prints and many preparatory drawings. His work is still published by Wolseley Fine Arts and
they held a touring exhibition on 1994 for his 80th birthday. His output by then exceeded 90 plates. In the 1950's
he sold almost all his plates for scrap, whih he came regret - several later prints are reversed copies of earlier
work that he felt worthy of re-editioning.
Alec Buckels
Etching, 1934, 239x162mm, Edition of 35
Buckels was a painter, wood engraver and illustrator.
Self Portrait #16 'Prospect of America'
Etching 1972, 202x152mm, Edition of 50
A pensive Holloway prior to a 12 portrait commission in America
A W Wheen
Etching 1934, 238x163mm, Edition of 35
Wheen worked at the Victoria & Albert Museum in the Art Library
The Airman II
Etching 1993, 251x177mm, Edition of 50
Jack Flower (of Flowers Ales) - a reversed copy of his 1933 etched commission.
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