Amazing Etchings At Great War Exhibition

December 22, 2014 by Joanna Harrison

Amazing Etchings At Great War Exhibition

Monday 22nd December 2014

Evocative etchings by an artist who survived the trenches of World War One have been unveiled at the Beecroft Art Gallery as part of ongoing commemorations for the centenary of the start of the Great War.

The pictures by Percy Delf Smith (1882 – 1948) are on show at the Gallery in the former Southend Central Library Building in Victoria Avenue, Southend until Saturday 11th April next year. Admission is free and the Gallery is open Tuesdays – Saturdays from 10am until 5pm.

Smith was a talented artist and calligrapher who studied and taught lettering at Camberwell School of Arts & Crafts, then Putney and Blackheath Art Colleges.

He served from 1916 to 1919 with the Royal Marine Artillery at the Western Front in France and later Belgium. During the war he received copperplates concealed in the pages of magazines and used them to make etchings from his sketches. These sketches formed the basis for two series of 11 and 12 works called Drypoints of the War 1914-18; memorable images of war-ravaged countryside and everyday life in the trenches.

Later, the Dance of Death series summed up the horror and hopelessness of the War in a much more graphic way.

The artist’s wife, Dr Ellen Delf Smith, herself a highly respected botanist, made sure that key works by her husband were despatched to a number of museums and archives so that they might be preserved for posterity. One of these was the Beecroft Art Gallery which received, along with other works, the three sets of World War One etchings.

After the War, Smith appears to have continued to create figurative scenes as well as produce publications on printed calligraphy. He has many works in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Imperial War Museum, though his Dance of Death series remains his best-known work.

Executive Councillor for Enterprise, Tourism and Economic Development, Councillor Graham Longley said: “This is a collection of genuine national interest – the Imperial War Museum is currently displaying the Death series of etchings as part of their WWI displays so this is a unique opportunity to see the very same works in your own local gallery. There is a wonderful story behind this collection and is a great addition to the Beecroft Art Gallery and our contribution to the World War One centenary commemorations.”