Summer Solstice. c. 1920. Colour etching and aquatint, printed à la poupée. 20 7/8 x 12 3/4 (sheet 24 x 16 1/2). Edition 12, #7. A fine, richly inked impression on Japanese mulberry paper with fresh, vibrant colors. Signed, numbered and annotated 'E.J.D. imp' in pencil indicating a proof printed by the artist. Housed in a 29 x 20-inch archival mat.
Edward Julius Detmold and his twin brother, Charles Maurice, were born in London in 1883. Due to their father's illness, they were tutored by an uncle, Dr. E B Shuldham, who had acquired a notable collection of Japanese woodblock prints of plants and animals. The brothers drew animals and plants at a very early age, and at 13 they exhibited nature studies at the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of Watercolour Painters. The Detmolds subsequently learned techniques of watercolour etching and of colour printing with copper plates. In 1898 they published their first sequence of colour etchings of animals and flowering plants in the Japanese style. These were much admired and the edition sold out quickly. The etchings achieved great success in 1900 in a special exhibition at the Fine Art Society's Gallery in London, where this etching was first shown. Campbell Dodgson wrote an appreciative article about the Detmolds for the Print Collector's Quarterly.
A selection of works by Edward Julius Detmold is available on the Allinson Gallery, Inc. website
