Drawn to the Page

Title of artwork:

Richard Rowley

Artist:

Dickey, Edward Montgomery O'Rorke

Materials:

Paper (fiber material), Ink

Techniques:

Wood engraving

Engraver:

Dickey, Edward Montgomery O'Rorke

Author:

Rowley, Richard

Title of Publication:

Workers

Publisher:

Duckworth and Co.

Publication place:

London

Publication date:

1923

Curator Comment:

Richard Rowley was the pseudonym of Richard Valentine Williams, the Belfast-born poet and dramatist. Rowley’s writings, as in ‘Workers’, addressed the social realities of life among Northern Ireland’s urban working classes and small-holding farmers. E M O'Rorke Dickey was part of a group of contemporary printmakers in Britain who, in the 1920s, lobbied the print industry to employ wood engravers as illustrators. 'Workers' was one of the first letterpress publications, illustrated with original wood engravings, to be commissioned by Duckworth Press.

Note on artwork:

This is a portrait of the book's author Richard Rowley (1877 - 1947) Compared to the rest of the volume's illustrations, this image is realistic in its approach, however the variety of mark making and the use of the 'white-line' method of wood-engraving asserts its place in contemporary printmaking.

References:

Snoddy (2002)