£860
Robert Austin:
Mother leaning over cot, circa 1930
Passe-partout (ref: 1077)
Signed with studio stamp
Charcoal on brown paper, 9 1/2 x 10 5/8 in. (24 x 27 cm.)
Tags: Robert Austin charcoal children night scenes and sleep
Provenance: Rachel and Clare Austin
Figures
resting or sleeping are amongst the subjects that Austin drew
consistently. In the domestic family routine which formed the backdrop
to his work Austin found an endless source of inspiration and some of the artist's best known prints:
Child in bed, Drypoint, 1929
Austin won the Rome Scholarship for engraving in 1923 and spent 3
remarkable years in Rome before teaching engraving at the Royal College
of Art, 1927-44, becoming
Professor in the Department of Graphic Design, 1948-55. Austin was a
meticulous craftsman-engraver and a vigorous draughtsman, as his series
of drawings of Women's Auxiliary Air Force and ballooning activities
done during World War II shows. The Tate Gallery holds his work.
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, organised an exhibition of his work in 1980.
More recently he was the subject of two shows at the Fine Art Society
plc (2001 and 2002), the latter organised in conjunction with Liss Fine
Art Ltd, and a show at The Royal Academy of Arts in 2009; (he was elected a Royal Academician in 1949).
Young Mother, line engraving, 1936
