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

in the

, 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

'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

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

*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)''

1924 Feb Vol 11, No. 1, p123 * Dodgson, Campbell. ''The Later Etched Work of F. L. Griggs R. A.''

1933 Oct Vol 20, No. 4, p321 * Dodgson, Campbell. ''The Latest Etchings of F. L. Griggs R. A.''

1939 Oct Vol 26, No. 3, p265 * Dodgson, Campbell. ''Catalogue (Supplement) of the Etchings of F. L. Griggs By Russell Alexander, 1928''

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, etcher

www.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