The Yolk
About this artwork
Hermes was a key member of the early twentieth-century wood engraving revival and one of the founders of the English Wood Engraving Society in 1925. Wood engraving was at the time considered a feminine craft, with little physical strength required, and was not highly regarded by art critics. This print evolved from a maquette (a scale model) for a sculpture which was named 'Triangular Form'. It is interesting that the print is black monochrome because from the 1940s on Hermes mainly worked in colour: her job as a draughtsperson in aircraft production and shipbuilding in the 1940s having made her 'heartily sick of black and white'.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Gertrude Hermes (1901 - 1983) English
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title:The Yolk
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date created:1954; printed 1975
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materials:Wood engraving on paper
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measurements:35.70 x 30.50 cm (paper 53.50 x 43.70 cm)
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object type:
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credit line:Presented by the artist's son and daughter 1991
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accession number:GMA 3594
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gallery:
Gertrude Hermes
Gertrude Hermes
Gertrude Hermes was a sculptor and printmaker born in Kent. She attended the Brook Green School of Painting and Sculpture in Hammersmith, which was founded and run by artist Leon Underwood. Hermes was key in the revival of wood engraving in the early twentieth-century at a time when wood engraving...