Pair of Colour Drypoint Etchings by Elyse Ashe Lord

A pair of finely executed colour prints by Elyse Ashe Lord (1885–1971), comprising Hardstone Vase, numbered 25/100, and Waiting, numbered 83/100, each signed by the artist and retaining its original decorative black lacquered frame.

Lord developed a highly distinctive printmaking technique, combining the delicate incised line of drypoint etching with colour applied from woodblocks. The drypoint image effectively acted as a key block, while successive woodblocks introduced the soft, luminous colour for which her work is known. Lord personally supervised the complex printing of her plates and blocks. campbell-fine-art.com

Born Elise Müller in 1885, Lord was of German parentage and later adopted the name of her English husband, the Reverend Thomas Ashe Lord. Although her work is steeped in the visual culture of China and the wider Far East, she never travelled to Asia. Instead, she drew inspiration from Chinese paintings, embroideries, textiles, wall hangings and illustrated sources, transforming them through her own imagination. annexgalleries.com

The resulting compositions are not literal representations of Chinese life, but a highly personal interpretation of Eastern imagery, combining elegant figures, decorative interiors, exotic objects and flowers with the fashionable silhouettes and sophisticated palette of 1920s and 1930s Art Deco. campbell-fine-art.com

Hardstone Vase depicts a flowering arrangement displayed in an elaborate vessel, while Waiting presents a seated female figure within an opulent Chinese-inspired interior. Together they demonstrate Lord's particularly successful fusion of traditional Asian imagery with the refined modernism of inter-war British printmaking.

England, first half of the 20th century.
Hardstone Vase, edition 25/100. Frame 56.5 x 46.5cm Aperture 26.5 x 24cm
Waiting, edition 83/100. Frame 46.5 x 56.5cm Aperture 24 x 31cm
Signed in pencil.
Retaining their original frames.