Sydney
LONG
Australia
1871
–
London
1955
England, Europe 1910-21; Australia 1921- 22; England 1922-25; Australia 1925-52; England from 1952
24.8 (h) x 30.4 (w) cm
1/60 , 1st state of 2; published state , 1st state proposed edition of 60, only about 6 printed; 2nd state, plate reworked edition of 60 completed , no manufacturer's mark
Signed lower right below plate-mark in black pencil, 'Sydney Long ['Long' underlined]'. Not dated. Not titled. Inscribed with edition details lower left below plate-mark in black pencil, '1/60'.
Reference: Mendelssohn (1979), 9; Paul (1928), 33 National Gallery of Australia, Canberra NGA 1977.9.5 The Stephen Collection, purchased 1976. Reproduced with the kind permission of the Ophthalmic Research Institute of Australia
- J.W.F. Stephen, who formed a definitive collection of the etched work of Sydney Long. J.A.C. Stephen, the artist’s son, by descent. Purchased by the Australian National Gallery, from J.A.C. Stephen, Sydney, 1977.
In The old mill, one of the first etchings exhibited by Long in Australia, he ‘used the etched line skilfully to indicate essential forms and to lend transparency to the dark body of the mill’. The disposition of the sails at an unusual angle assist in the pictorial rhythm. ‘This aquatint has a solemnity of tone, a gravity of mood, that is new in Long’s work. The sky, besides possessing a fine technical quality, still holds the faint refulgence of day, the gleam nigh stricken by oncoming light’ (Lindsay, 1921).
This old windmill with its arms outstretched against a large sky was located at Bledlow Ridge, near the village of Bledlow on the northern spur of the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire.
Long wrote to Adolph Albers: ‘I will have to get The Mill steel faced and any others that seem to take on. I don’t want to have to steel face all my plates, only those in which there seems likely to be a large edition as the steel facing is rather expensive’ (Long, 29 October 1919). He sent six proofs of the print to Albers on 27 November 1919. He also told Albers in 1919 that he had sold a copy of ‘the Mill’ in an exhibition of the Central School etchers.
According to J.W.F. Stephen, the plate was made of very soft copper and it wore rapidly. During the war, good copper plates were practically unobtainable. After Long had pulled about half-a-dozen prints, he took out the sky altogether and re-worked it, this time in aquatint.
Dorothy Ellsmore Paul dated the print 1916, but this date is now known to be incorrect as Long did not start printmaking until 1918. The correspondence between Long and Albers indicates that 1919 is the correct date. A copy of the print was first shown in 1919 at the ‘Society of Artists Spring exhibition’, Sydney, 4–20 October (188). Two copies of the print, one in brown ink and one in blue ink, are held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a copy is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and a copy, in black ink, titled ‘Old mill, Oxfordshire’ was given by Long to the British Museum, London, in 1924.
In The old mill, one of the first etchings exhibited by Long in Australia, he ‘used the etched line skilfully to indicate essential forms and to lend transparency to the dark body of the mill’. The disposition of the sails at an unusual angle assist in the pictorial rhythm. ‘This aquatint has a solemnity of tone, a gravity of mood, that is new in Long’s work. The sky, besides possessing a fine technical quality, still holds the faint refulgence of day, the gleam nigh stricken by oncoming light’ (Lindsay, 1921).
This old windmill with its arms outstretched against a large sky was located at Bledlow Ridge, near the village of Bledlow on the northern spur of the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire.
Long wrote to Adolph Albers: ‘I will have to get The Mill steel faced and any others that seem to take on. I don’t want to have to steel face all my plates, only those in which there seems likely to be a large edition as the steel facing is rather expensive’ (Long, 29 October 1919). He sent six proofs of the print to Albers on 27 November 1919. He also told Albers in 1919 that he had sold a copy of ‘the Mill’ in an exhibition of the Central School etchers.
According to J.W.F. Stephen, the plate was made of very soft copper and it wore rapidly. During the war, good copper plates were practically unobtainable. After Long had pulled about half-a-dozen prints, he took out the sky altogether and re-worked it, this time in aquatint.
Dorothy Ellsmore Paul dated the print 1916, but this date is now known to be incorrect as Long did not start printmaking until 1918. The correspondence between Long and Albers indicates that 1919 is the correct date. A copy of the print was first shown in 1919 at the ‘Society of Artists Spring exhibition’, Sydney, 4–20 October (188). Two copies of the print, one in brown ink and one in blue ink, are held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a copy is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and a copy, in black ink, titled ‘Old mill, Oxfordshire’ was given by Long to the British Museum, London, in 1924.
In The old mill, one of the first etchings exhibited by Long in Australia, he ‘used the etched line skilfully to indicate essential forms and to lend transparency to the dark body of the mill’. The disposition of the sails at an unusual angle assist in the pictorial rhythm. ‘This aquatint has a solemnity of tone, a gravity of mood, that is new in Long’s work. The sky, besides possessing a fine technical quality, still holds the faint refulgence of day, the gleam nigh stricken by oncoming light’ (Lindsay, 1921).
This old windmill with its arms outstretched against a large sky was located at Bledlow Ridge, near the village of Bledlow on the northern spur of the Chilterns in Buckinghamshire.
Long wrote to Adolph Albers: ‘I will have to get The Mill steel faced and any others that seem to take on. I don’t want to have to steel face all my plates, only those in which there seems likely to be a large edition as the steel facing is rather expensive’ (Long, 29 October 1919). He sent six proofs of the print to Albers on 27 November 1919. He also told Albers in 1919 that he had sold a copy of ‘the Mill’ in an exhibition of the Central School etchers.
According to J.W.F. Stephen, the plate was made of very soft copper and it wore rapidly. During the war, good copper plates were practically unobtainable. After Long had pulled about half-a-dozen prints, he took out the sky altogether and re-worked it, this time in aquatint.
Dorothy Ellsmore Paul dated the print 1916, but this date is now known to be incorrect as Long did not start printmaking until 1918. The correspondence between Long and Albers indicates that 1919 is the correct date. A copy of the print was first shown in 1919 at the ‘Society of Artists Spring exhibition’, Sydney, 4–20 October (188). Two copies of the print, one in brown ink and one in blue ink, are held by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, a copy is held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, and a copy, in black ink, titled ‘Old mill, Oxfordshire’ was given by Long to the British Museum, London, in 1924.
