Original wood engraving print by George Mackley, The Boatman Inn, engraved c1969

Size:  Mount 25.5 x 27.5 cm. Print image 14.4 x 12.3 cm. 

Condition: Excellent condition. Mount new.

This original print is from the collection of Iain Bain, an expert on printmaking and in the last part of his career head of publications at the Tate Gallery in London.  It is identified as "The Boatman Inn" in the collection of the University of Connecticut, and as "Canal Inn" in the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery. Both examples are dated 1968-1969.  

This print was made from the original wood engraving, but is not signed by the artist and the paper used for this print is a fairly heavy flat wove paper.  Most of Mackley's editioned prints were on laid paper and in editions of about 75 proofs.  It is likely that this print was made from the original engraving by Iain Bain himself or under his direction.

Please note this is an original print and not a lithographic reproduction of George Mackley's work, examples of which are commonly found.

George Edward Mackley MBE (1900 -1983) was educated at the Judd School in Tunbridge, Kent, Mackley trained as a teacher of art at Goldsmiths' College, London, specializing in painting and etching. In 1935, he learned basic wood engraving technique from Noel Rooke.

Mackley's book Wood Engraving, published in 1948, remains one of the leading manuals of engraving techniques. In A History of British Wood Engraving (1978) Albert Garrett described him as ‘a phenomenon in British engraving. A few square centimetres of Mackley is more charged with aesthetic energy, emotion and precision than many artists can muster in a lifetime [...] He could not tolerate bad or weak craftsmanship under any circumstances; bad draughtsmanship met with short shrift from him. He makes no claims to being a creative artist and always stresses that he is primarily a craftsman.'