Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

Woodcut and relief print from zinc plates printed in colors, circa 1925, edition 100. 13 1/8 x 17 5/8 in. Signed with the artist's monogram, lower right. Signed and numbered in pencil. This is a fine impression with fresh colors. The margins are full and the condition is excellent. "President of the Society of Graver Printers in Colour, William Giles was one of the most important innovators in original colour printmaking in Britain during the first three decades of the twentieth-century. Having begun with the traditional colour woodcut method, he experimented widely, first with aquatint and then with relief printing from zinc plates in an attempt to produce pure, even areas of colour. He developed a novel range of inks ranging from watercolour mixed with rice paste, to powered colour dissolved in volatile oil, in order to achieve an ever greater range and depth of colour throughout his prints." (See Michael Campbell's detailed and informative explanation of Giles's technique described in depth on his website entry for the artist; www.campbell-fine-art.com). This is arguably the artist's most famous print.