James McBey

1931

Not on view

In 1931 Brockhurst met McBey at a London dinner party and persuaded his fellow artist to sit for a portrait (Albert H. Wiggin Collection, Boston Public Library). The Scottish-born McBey had served as an Official War Artist in the Middle East during World War I then continued to achieve success as a painter and etcher. The year this portrait was made he married the American artist-photographer Marguerite Loeb and began traveling regularly between London, New York and Tangiers. The print establishes a strong tonal divide in the background and uses the edge of a brightly lit wall to enhance the figure's three-dimensionality–the light area at right was made by leaving a significant portion of the plate unetched. As a whole, the composition conveys McBey's strong personality.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Catalogue Raisonné

References

Title: James McBey
Artist: Gerald Leslie Brockhurst (British, Birmingham 1890–1978 Franklin Lakes, New Jersey)
Sitter: James McBey (British, Newburgh 1883–1959 Tangier)
Date: 1931
Medium: Etching; ninth state of nine
Dimensions: Plate: 10 9/16 × 7 3/8 in. (26.8 × 18.8 cm)
Sheet: 13 3/4 × 10 3/4 in. (35 × 27.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of John J. Cunningham, 1967
Object Number: 67.616.1
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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