The Speech of the Evening by Edmund Blampied, 1886-1966

Edmund Blampied, 1886-1966
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The Speech of the Evening

Original drypoint in black ink. 1931. Signed in ink. Numbered in ink from the edition of 100. Also signed and dated in the plate. Printed and issued by the artist.
Ref: Appelby-Edmund Blampied Prints no 150

Excellent rich impression with strong ink tone on the burr. On pale cream light wove paper. Generally excellent condition; a slight trace of an old mount mark. Full margins. Sheet: 18 Ľ x 13ins. Plate: 10 7/8 x 10 3/4ins (275x273mm).

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Edmund Blampied was an artist with an exceptional gift in the medium of etching and a superb eye both for the landscape of his native Jersey and above all for the humorous situations of life. The Speech of the Evening, drawn in 1931, is one of the most famous works in his whole oeuvre.

The plate is worked with a brilliant combination of contour line and tone work so that the pattern of the light and the dark underlines the image. At the same time the manner in which Blampied has captured the whole atmosphere of the after-dinner speaker who drones boringly on for seemingly interminable hours is expressed with an understanding of that combination of satire, character insight and humour which places him alongside the great caricaturists of all time.

Blampied was born in Jersey but followed his art studies in London from about 1903. From the 1920?s he began to travel extensively in Europe and his feeling for ideas generated in late 19th century French art was stimulated during visits to Paris. By the mid 1920?s he was settled in Jersey again, exhibiting both there and in London with great success, and working on themes which almost all derive from the local life and the landscape around him.