Stanley Anderson

Book excerpt: Despite living through some of the most dramatic changes of the twentieth century, Stanley Anderson CBE (1884-1966) created a vision of an essentially timeless English rural tradition in his etchings and woodcuts. He trained as an engraver, first on a heraldic engraving apprenticeship with his father and later at the Royal College of Art and Goldsmiths' College, London. Anderson became a master of his craft: elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etcher and Engravers in 1923. When he later took up woodcutting, he became immersed in a technique that was considered as deeply English as the subjects he depicted. Anderson was a key figure in the engraving revival in the 1920s; the technique's exacting craftsmanship, intimate scale and indelible sense of historicism were a stark contrast to the contemporary modernist explosion, which was led by Ezra Pound's infamous exhortation "Make it new". This catalogue raisonne gathers together for the first time the complete oeuvre of Anderson's prints, from the townscapes of his early career to the fascinating twenty-year study of rural crafts, including hedge-laying, carpentry and barrel-making, that he carried out towards the end of his life, and for which he is best known. AUTHOR: Robert Meyrick is Head of the School of Art and Keeper of the School of Art Museum and Collections at Aberystwyth University. Meyrick has published widely and is the author of Sydney Lee Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne, also by RA Publications. SELLING POINTS: * A historical snapshot of rural crafts on the verge of extinction, rendered in exquisitely detailed wood engravings * A re-introduction to a marvellous engraver who has unfortunately been forgotten by the mainstream art world * Although Anderson is little known now, his work features in major museums in the UK and the USA 260 b/w