signed ‘Francis Dodd’ (in graphite)
drypoint
1926
45.5 x 30 cm (plate); 50.7 x 34.8 cm (sheet)
Undescribed
A rich velvety impression with margins, the paper is in very good condition

The Welsh artist Francis Dodd belonged to the second generation of artists from the Etching Revival movement which aimed to invigorate etching as an original form of printmaking. For these artists, Rembrandt served as a major inspiration and like the 17th-century Dutch artist,
their prints were often executed in drypoint to achieve an atmospheric quality. Many of Dodd’s engravings are executed in this technique and it is in his portraits of artists that Dodd’s technical and artistic are most evident. The present etching is a case in point; in front of a wall with hanging prints and pots of paint, sits the artist Charles Cundall (1890-1971) at an easel, brush in hand and ready to start a new painting while confidently gazing at the viewer.
Cundall is best known for his paintings of large sporting events, city views and battle scenes. He had his first show at Colnaghi in London in the year after the present print was made (1927). During World War II Cundall worked on contracts for the War Artists' Advisory Committee before being employed as Admiralty artist to work on Merchant Navy subjects. Many of his most iconic pictures, including No 11 Fighter Group's Operations Room, Uxbridge and The Withdrawal from Dunkirk, June 1940, both now in the Imperial War Museums, London, were produced during that time. [1]

[1] Inv. Art.IWM ART LD 4140 and Art.IWM ART LD 305.