Australia, (1855-1938)
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Marché aux cochons en Bretagne
- [Pig marget in Brittany]
- (ndg.), watercolours
- 5.7 x 8.5 in. (14.5 x 21.5 cm.)
- Private collection
About the Artist:
Mortimer Luddington Menpes, Australia, (1855-1938), was an painter in oils and watercolor as well as a printmaker and illustrator. He attended the Adelaide’s School of Designand took formal art training at the School of Art in London.
On a sketching tour of Brittany in 1880, Menpes met James McNeill Whistler and he became Whistler’s pupil. Whistler’s influence, together with that of Japanese design, is evident in his Menpes work. Menpes traveled to South Africa in 1900 after the outbreak of the Boer War as a war artist for the weekly illustrated magazine Black and White.
After the war ended in 1902 he travelled widely, visiting Burma, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Kashmir, Mexico, Morocco, and Spain. Many of his illustrations were published in travel books by A & C Black. Menpes was a major figure in the etching revival, producing more than seven hundred different etchings and drypoints, which he usually printed himself. [DES-01/16]