WALKER, Henry George (1876-1932)
Henry George Walker was born in 1876 in
the Birchfield area of Birmingham, where his father was in the coal trade. From
1897-1901 he attended the well-known Birmingham Municipal School of Art, now
part of the University of Central England. He may have designed jewellery for a
time after finishing his training there. By 1907 he was working as a freelance
designer and commercial line artist from his own studio in his Birchfield home.
The patriotic Bulldog in a naval cap probably represents one of his commercial
commissions during the First World War, though it was used again at the
beginning of the Second, several years after his death.
He became active as an etcher from around 1921, when he first exhibited at the
Royal Birmingham Society. To make a living, he concentrated on popular
architectural and topographical plates in various combinations of soft-ground
etching, dry-point, and aquatint, both coloured and monochrome. The etchings are
titled and signed in pencil Henry G.Walker, with H.G.W. or H.G.Walker on the
plate itself, though he was known to friends and family as 'Harry'.
He produced over 150 designs, more than half of them of places in the South
West, with varying degrees of market response.... He was particularly successful
with studies of harbours like Tenby and Brixham with their trawlers.
As the 'etching boom' of the 1920s began to recede with the onset of the
Depression, he seems to have started to experiment with ink-and-wash designs for
reproduction as coloured prints. They were chiefly of cats and dogs in humorous
situations, somewhat in the manner of his slightly older contemporary Cecil
Aldin.
Walker's His Last Battle is reminiscent of Aldin's engaging watercolour
An ill of a mysterious character, which has a Bulldog puppy in bed
contemplating a bottle of medicine. But in Aldin's piece the bed is a real dog's
bed on the floor, and the bottle is the only humanising touch. Walker also
provides long dialogue captions, such as the one to another design of a
heavily-bandaged terrier sitting on its haunches.
He moved down to Babbacombe in Devon in 1929, and set up his studio in a new
house. But the venture was cut short by his early death in 1932. He was buried
in Barton Cemetery Torquay.
A stunning limited edition artist's proof coloured etching of Exeter Cathedral viewed from the Palace Grounds. Signed in pencil bas droite "Henry G Walker".
Dimensions: 12x8 inches
Condition: Excellent. Framed and glazed.
Price: £140 including UK delivery
A stunning limited edition artist's proof coloured etching of Westminster Abbey viewed from Dean's Yard. Signed in pencil bas droite "Henry G Walker".
Dimensions: 12x8 inches
Condition: Excellent. Framed and glazed.
Price: £140 including UK delivery
