William Strang
(1859 - 1921)
Seated Nude (reclining, three quarter view)
£9,750
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William Strang (1859 - 1921)
Size:
Height – 20.3cm
Width – 14cm
Literature: Llewellyn, Sacha, and Paul Liss. Portrait of an Artist. Liss Llewellyn, 2021, p.249.
This work is now normally known as Self-Portrait, No.19, it is referenced in the main catalogue by the artist son as David Strang 633. In the earlier, incomplete catalogue by Binyon, it was referenced as Binyon 519 and it was titled just Portrait of William Strang. (MC)
In his younger years he was a noted serial self-portraitist. The etchings having a wide variety of poses, or setting, or are distinguished by the wearing of a specific hat. His unique lithographic self-portrait was probably prompted by or made at the invitation of Joseph Pennell, himself a keen lithographer, for his book on lithography and lithographers. Pennell commented in his book ‚ÄúMr Strang’s lithographs so far have been few, but those few have as marked a character as his etchings. They are mainly portraits, simple and dignified, with a touch of severity that has its charm. The one now given, an admirable example of his methods, is an excellent portrait of himself, so sincere and straight-forward a study that we can only hope Mr Strang will be induced to continue his experiments in a medium which he evidently finds so congenial. (EHL)
We are grateful to Elizabeth Harvey-Lee and Michael Campbell for assistance.
Born Dumbarton, 13 Feb 1859; died Bournemouth, 12 April 1921. Scottish painter and printmaker. Following a brief apprenticeship with a shipbuilding firm in Clydesdale, he entered the Slade School of Art (1876) where he adhered to the uncompromising realism advocated by his teacher Alphonse Legros. After completing his studies at the Slade (1880), Strang became Legros’s assistant in the printmaking class for a year. For the next 20 years he worked primarily as an etcher. His etchings include landscapes in the tradition of Rembrandt, pastoral themes indebted to Giorgione and macabre genre subjects, marked by a sense of tension and suspended animation. He also etched 150 portraits of leading artistic and literary figures. The commitment to realism and psychological intensity that characterizes the best of Strang’s etched work is also evident in the paintings that dominated the latter half of his career. The influence of the Belgian and French Symbolists’ work and Strang’s growing confidence in the handling of colour combined in his mature style with a linear clarity and schematic colouring that is best seen in such works as Bank Holiday (1912; London, Tate). His oil portraits, for example Vita Sackville-West as Lady In a Red Hat (1918; Glasgow, A.G. & Mus.), are strikingly potent images of their time. An important collection of Strang’s graphic work is in the Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. His sons Ian Strang (1886’1952) and David Strang (born 1887) were also printmakers.
