Frederick Landseer Maur Griggs (30 October 1876 – 7 June 1938) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
etcher
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
, architectural draughtsman, illustrator, and early
conservationist, associated with the late flowering of the
Arts and Crafts movement in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
, centered in
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...
. He was one of the first etchers to be elected to full membership of the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
, and was part of the final phase of the
Etching Revival
The etching revival was the re-emergence and invigoration of etching as an original form of printmaking during the period approximately from 1850 to 1930. The main centres were France, Britain and the United States, but other countries, such as t ...
in Britain. He was elected the Master of the
Art Workers' Guild
The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...
in 1934.
Born in
Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842.
History
Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
, he worked as an illustrator for the ''
Highways and Byways'' series of regional guides for the publishers, Macmillans. In 1903 he settled at Dover's House, in the market town of
Chipping Campden
Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...
in the
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale.
The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...
, and went on to create one of the last significant Arts and Crafts houses at 'New Dover's House'. There he set up the Dover's House Press, where he printed late proofs of the etchings of
Samuel Palmer
Samuel Palmer Hon.RE (Hon. Fellow of the Society of Painter-Etchers) (27 January 180524 May 1881) was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and p ...
, amongst others. He collaborated with
Ernest Gimson
Ernest William Gimson (; 21 December 1864 – 12 August 1919) was an English furniture designer and architect. Gimson was described by the art critic Nikolaus Pevsner as "the greatest of the English architect-designers". Today his reputatio ...
and the Sapperton group of craftsmen in architectural and design work in the area.
The etchings
![F](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/F.L._Griggs%2C_Laneham%2C_1923%2C_NGA_134267.jpg)
'Fred' Griggs converted to
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
in 1912 and set about producing a body of etchings, 57 meticulous plates in a
Romantic tradition, evoking an idealised medieval England of
pastoral
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
landscapes and architectural fantasies of ruined abbeys and buildings.
[ Griffiths, Anthony, ''Prints and Printmaking'', p. 69, British Museum Press (in UK), 2nd edn, 1996 ]
His best-known etchings include '
Owlpen Manor
Owlpen Manor is a Tudor Grade I listed manor house of the Mander family, situated in the village of Owlpen in the Stroud district in Gloucestershire, England. There is an associated estate set in a valley within the Cotswold Area of Outstandi ...
' (1930), dedicated to his friend, the architect
Norman Jewson
Norman Jewson (12 February 1884 – 28 August 1975) was an English architect-craftsman of the Arts and Crafts movement, who practised in the Cotswolds. He was a distinguished, younger member of the group which had settled in Sapperton, Glouces ...
, 'Anglia Perdita', 'Maur's Farm', 'St Botolph's, Boston', 'The Almonry', and 'Memory of
Clavering'. Collections of his etched work are held in the
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...
, the
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
, the
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
, and in major public collections worldwide.
Legacy
Griggs was one of the finest and most respected etchers of his time. He was an influential leader of the British
etching revival
The etching revival was the re-emergence and invigoration of etching as an original form of printmaking during the period approximately from 1850 to 1930. The main centres were France, Britain and the United States, but other countries, such as t ...
in the Twenties and Thirties, and "the most important etcher who followed in the
Samuel Palmer
Samuel Palmer Hon.RE (Hon. Fellow of the Society of Painter-Etchers) (27 January 180524 May 1881) was a British landscape painter, etcher and printmaker. He was also a prolific writer. Palmer was a key figure in Romanticism in Britain and p ...
tradition" (K.M. Guichard, ''British Etchers'', 1977). He occupies a pole position in the Romantic tradition of British art: he links the world of Blake, Turner and Samuel Palmer to a younger generation of neo-Romantic artists, including
Graham Sutherland
Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...
,
John Piper,
Robin Tanner and Joseph Webb.
References
Bibliography
;Books illustrated by Griggs (selected):
![Chichester cross](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Chichester_cross.jpg)
*Cook, E. T.
Highways and byways in London' (London: Macmillan, 1902).
*Lucas, E. V. ''
Highways and byways in Sussex
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
'' (London: Macmillan, 1904).
*
Vincent, J. E. Highways and byways in Berkshire' (London: Macmillan, 1906).
*Conybeare, Edward.
Highways and byways in Cambridge and Ely' (London: Macmillan, 1910).
*Rawnsley, W. F.
Highways and byways in Lincolnshire' (London: Macmillan, 1914).
*Firth, J. B.
Highways and byways in Nottinghamshire' (London: Macmillan, 1916).
*Evans, H. E.
Highways and byways in Northamptonshire and Rutland' (London: Macmillan, 1918).
;Books/Articles about Griggs:
* Alexander, Russell G. ''The engraved work of Frederick Landseer Griggs, etchings and drypoints, 1912-28'' (Shakespeare Head Press, 1928)
* Clark, T. A. ''Silences of Noons: The Work of F.L. Griggs (1876–1938)'' (Cheltenham, 1988)
* Comstock, Francis Adams. ''A Gothic Vision: F.L. Griggs and his Work'' (Oxford and Boston, 1966, 1978 reprinted)
* Dodgson, Campbell. ''The Etchings of F. L. Griggs''
The Print Collector’s Quarterly
''The Print Collector's Quarterly'' (initially hyphenated as ''The Print-Collector's Quarterly''), was a quarterly periodical that was begun in 1911 and continued under various publishers until 1950. The original founders were art dealer Frederick ...
1924 Feb Vol 11, No. 1, p95.
* Dodgson, Campbell. ''The Etchings of F. L. Griggs (Catalogue)''
The Print Collector’s Quarterly
''The Print Collector's Quarterly'' (initially hyphenated as ''The Print-Collector's Quarterly''), was a quarterly periodical that was begun in 1911 and continued under various publishers until 1950. The original founders were art dealer Frederick ...
1924 Feb Vol 11, No. 1, p123
* Dodgson, Campbell. ''The Later Etched Work of F. L. Griggs R. A.''
The Print Collector’s Quarterly
''The Print Collector's Quarterly'' (initially hyphenated as ''The Print-Collector's Quarterly''), was a quarterly periodical that was begun in 1911 and continued under various publishers until 1950. The original founders were art dealer Frederick ...
1933 Oct Vol 20, No. 4, p321
* Dodgson, Campbell. ''The Latest Etchings of F. L. Griggs R. A.''
The Print Collector’s Quarterly
''The Print Collector's Quarterly'' (initially hyphenated as ''The Print-Collector's Quarterly''), was a quarterly periodical that was begun in 1911 and continued under various publishers until 1950. The original founders were art dealer Frederick ...
1939 Oct Vol 26, No. 3, p265
* Dodgson, Campbell. ''Catalogue (Supplement) of the Etchings of F. L. Griggs By Russell Alexander, 1928''
The Print Collector’s Quarterly
''The Print Collector's Quarterly'' (initially hyphenated as ''The Print-Collector's Quarterly''), was a quarterly periodical that was begun in 1911 and continued under various publishers until 1950. The original founders were art dealer Frederick ...
1939 Oct Vol 26, No. 3, p275
*
Moore, Jerrold Northrop. ''F. L. Griggs: The Architecture of Dreams'' (OUP, 1999; Antique Collector's Club 2008)
* Moore, Jerrold Northrop. ''The Green Fuse: Pastoral Vision in English Art 1820-2000'' (2007)
* Wright, Harold J. L. ''The Etched Work of F. L. Griggs with a Catalogue by Campbell Dodgson'' (Print Collectors' Club, 1941)
External links
*
F.L. Griggs, etcherwww.artistarchive.com A catalogue of prints listed by Russell George Alexander, Adams Francis Comstock and Campbell Dodgson, many with images.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griggs, Frederick Landseer Maur
1876 births
1938 deaths
Arts and Crafts movement artists
Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art
British draughtsmen
English etchers
English illustrators
English Roman Catholics
English printmakers
Royal Academicians
Converts to Roman Catholicism
People from Hitchin
People from Chipping Campden
Masters of the Art Worker's Guild