Julian Trevelyan (1910-1988) - Triplane

Original signed etching by Julian Trevelyan RA (1910–1988), one of the best-known British modernist printmakers of the 20th century.

Title: Triplane
Year: 1974
Technique: Etching / aquafuerte with hand-coloured accents
Edition: 24/25
Signature: Signed in pencil lower right
Numbered: Lower left
Title: Written in pencil lower centre
Sheet size: 39 × 59 cm
Condition: Unframed. Light age and handling wear. Overall presents well. Previously adhered to backing paper, now removed; minor traces on verso, no effect on recto. Please see photographs.

About the artist
Julian Trevelyan was a British painter, printmaker and teacher associated with modern British art and Surrealism. In the early 1930s he worked in Paris at Atelier 17, the famous experimental print studio founded by Stanley William Hayter, which had a major influence on his approach to etching and graphic technique.

Trevelyan exhibited in the International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries in London in 1936, and his first solo exhibition was held at the Lefevre Gallery in 1937. His work has also been associated with important British galleries and institutions including Waddington Galleries, New Grafton Gallery, Bohun Gallery, Pallant House Gallery, and others.

He later taught at Chelsea College of Art and the Royal College of Art, influencing a younger generation of British artists. His prints are admired for their humour, fantasy, architectural forms, travel subjects, machines and dreamlike compositions.

Triplane is a scarce 1974 print from a very small edition of only 25. It combines figurative subject matter with abstract-surrealist forms and playful modernist design, typical of Trevelyan’s mature graphic style. Comparable listings describe Triplane as an etching and soft-ground print, printed by the artist and published by Leslie Waddington Prints Ltd.