28. Gerald Brockhurst
(1890-1978)
Una

(click on image to print)
Brockhurst: Una

Una

Etching, 1929, 218 x 159 mm., Wright 65, Fletcher 65 iv/x. Superb trial proof, one of three of this state, on an irregular sheet of old laid paper with large margins, signed and annotated in pencil. Brockhurst is thought of as such a quintessentially British artist that it is often forgotten that he came to America in 1939, settled in New Jersey and became an American citizen. Scandal about his affair with his young model, whom he called Dorette and who later became his second wife, is what led to his emigration -- showing that America was a haven not just for the poor and oppressed. Famous and wealthy as a portrait painter, time has seen Brockhurst’s oils pass from public notice, while his etchings – meticulous, almost magical in their individual, self-taught technique and strangely redolent of the Renaissance painters he studied so carefully – remain of great interest to collectors.