The Ring and The Questing Knight
1923. Pair of linocuts, each initialled in block lower left; one editioned 24/50 and the other 24/35, both titled and signed in pencil in lower margin, 27.2 x 21.9cm (approx. each). Slight foxing and stains, minor crinkles, repaired tears to margins. The Ring is held in the National Gallery of Australia. The Questing Knight is held in the National Gallery of Victoria and is illustrated in Draffin, The Art of M. Napier Waller, 1978, p32. These two linocuts form a special pairing, as they are both rare and complimentary in subject. Born in Victoria, Mervyn Napier Waller is credited with producing and exhibiting the first linocuts in Australia. He was a noted Australian muralist, mosaicist and painter in stained glass and other media. His work was “strongly influenced by Pre-Raphaelite and late-nineteenth century British painters; his monumental works show an increasingly classical and calmly formal style, using timeless and heroic figure compositions to express ideas and ideals, sometimes with theosophical or gnostic overtones.” During his career, Napier Waller, became well known for his mosaics and stained glass, especially for the Hall of Memory at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, completed in 1958. Considered to be “a gallery of Napier Waller’s work,” Melbourne houses eleven monumental murals by Waller, which are on display on city buildings and at the University of Melbourne’s main campus.” Ref: Wiki; ADB.
Item #CL203-33
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