Julian Trevelyan is one of England's best loved printmakers. Born in 1910 he initially went to Bedales school and then studied English literature at Trinity College Cambridge. Interested to become an artist he left university and moved to Paris where he studied etching in the famous Atelier 17 under Stanley William Hayter. There he worked alongside some of the most well known artists of the 20th century including Miro and Picasso. Apart from printmaking Trevelyan was also a teacher, painter, poet and also worked with collage. Especially among his earlier work his collages using various newspaper cuttings stand out in his oeuvre. He is however primarily known for his colourful etchings. His subject matters varied from landscapes and town scenes to animals, famers and other domestic scenes, both in the UK and also abroad. Trevelyan was great at observing life around him and his etchings often give a surprisingly new way of looking at the world. His distinctive style is very abstract, with an emphasis on a wide variety of forms and shapes that intrigued him in his observations. Due to the bold colours the etchings have normally a very strong visual impact. Among his best loved work is the Thames Suite, a set of 12 views of the river Thames. They were published in 1969 in an edition of 75. Trevelyan died in 1988.
This work, titled 'Tower Bridge' is part of the Thames suite. It is an etching with aquatint and shows the Tower Bridge in London at sunset. The bridge is open and a boat has just come through. In the foreground a huge canon, a few trees and some figures on the quayside. The sun in dark red is accompanied by a single, highly stylised cloud, also in red.
The round shape of the sun is echoed by the large wheel of the canon which gives an extra dimension and dynamism to the etching and contrasts greatly with the otherwise stern, straight lines and angular shapes that dominate the scene.
What I like especially about this etching is that despite the apparent simplicity of the scene, you get the sense there is a lot going on. Trevelyan has clearly tried to create a snapshot of everyday life along the Thames. The little boat is happily making his way up the river and the people in the foreground also seem to be really busy although it is by no means clear what they are doing. The person nearest to us seems to be in a hurry running along the quay while the other two are workman doing whatever it is they are doing. While this is intriguing it does not really matter as it is the strength of the composition and the powerful colours that give the image such a great presence.