James Boswell (Printmaking)

James Boswell was a British artist born in New Zealand.  He was a notable painter and printmaker who was also very well known for being a socialist.  Born in 1906 (June 9th) he was conscripted into the Army as a Radiographer during World War II.  Surviving the war and continuing his work, Boswell would eventually lose his life to cancer in 1971.  His work spurred a lot of controversy at the time, his ideals and style considered irregular by his peers and mentors.


The Fall of London: Museum from 1933.  It's a lithograph print which belongs to a small series which all depict an uprising within London.  The images are believed to have been part of a book that was never published, yet the image alone depicts a lot of Boswell's own ideals and beliefs.  The print itself looks very much like a graphite or charcoal image, his lines soft and blurred.  He manages to catch a very moody and tense atmosphere, which I fine impressive given the incredibly limited colour palette.  His composition is rather please, and I like the way he's set up his image. 


Quiet Evening (1940) is from a little later in his career, only a short time before his conscription.  Like the earlier print, this one is also a lithograph with black ink.  This image is unlike a lot of the earlier images I've looked at through this course.  It's by far the most illustrative of the images, which appeals to my own tastes and sensibilities.  Again, the atmosphere he's able to create is incredible, the image itself able to tell an interesting story.  The overshadowing ideas of war clearly present in the image as WWII was underway.

I love the illustrative nature of Boswell's work.  It's quite refreshing to see, especially from this early in history.  I always love seeing illustrative works being recognised within the art world.  Both of these works are images I would have instantly credited to pencil or charcoal, and it surprised me to find out that they were lithograph.  As with most artists I've looked at, Boswell has expanded my understanding of what can be created through the printmaking medium.

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