Featured Artists' Biographies (E)

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by Richard Earlom

Richard Earlom (London, 1743 - 1822): One of the greatest eighteenth century mezzotint and stipple engravers, Richard Earlom was apprenticed to the London based engraver, Cipriani, in his youth. He began work for John Boydell in 1774, taking five years to create the two hundred plates which comprise the Liber Veritas set. These engravings showed the world the remarkable effects a combination of mezzotint and etching could produce on landscape art and gained for both Earlom and Boydell a long lasting fame. In fact, in the following century, these Earlom mezzotints directly influenced the landscape art of Turner.

During the following decades Earlom engraved outstanding works both after the designs of his contemporaries and after the old masters. Boydell continued to commission his talents for some of the most famous plates in both The Houghton Gallery and the Shakespeare Gallery. As one can easily see in this original engraving, entitled, The Exposition of Cyrus, he was without equal in capturing the rich tonal qualities of the demanding mezzotint medium. Today, Earlom is most appreciated for his technical virtuosity and mastery.

View larger image, more information and other original works of art by George Wharton Edwards

George Wharton Edwards (1869 - 1950): A prominent American painter, illustrator, writer and lithographic artist, George Wharton Edwards studied art in Antwerp and in Paris. Edwards first gained serious recognition in his native country during that amazing American phenomenon, the Art Nouveau decade, which reached its highest point of popularity from 1894 to 1896.

The “Century Magazine” produced some of the greatest lithographic Art Nouveau posters during these years. “The Century Company” commissioned original graphic art from such great masters as Louis John Rhead, Eugene Grassett, Edward Penfield, George Wharton Edwards and others.

Later (from 1898 to 1903) Edwards became the head of the Art Department for Collier's Magazine and was therefore responsible for many of the fine illustrations of Maxfield Parrish, Remington, Jessie Willcox Smith and others. He also wrote and illustrated many fine books, most dealing with European scenery. Throughout his illustrious career he received many honours for his murals, paintings, posters and illustrations, including the “Legion d' Honneur”, in France, and the “Royal Order of the Knight Chevalier”, from the King of Spain.

View larger image and more information for Karl Ellermann's original landscape etching.

Karl Ellermann (Bielefeld, 1887 - Munich, 1910): A German Expressionist etcher and painter, Karl Ellermann studied under O. Ubbelohde and H. Groebers. His art was dedicated mainly to fine landscape depictions and was included in exhibitions with such fellow Westfalen Expressionists as August Macke, Bernhard Pankok, Christian Rohlfs and Wilhelm Morgner. If not for his very brief life, Karl Ellermann surely would have taken a place among Germany's most famous artists of Expressionism. The Municipal Gallery at Bielefeld houses the most comprehensive collection of the etchings and paintings of Karl Ellermann.

View larger image and more information for Huit Pigeons by Hans Erni

Hans Erni (Lucerne, Switzerland, born, 1909): An outstanding twentieth century painter, designer and illustrator, Hans Erni is today most highly sought after for his innovative original lithographs and etchings. First apprenticed to an architectural draughtsman, Erni studied at the Ecole des Artes Metiers in Lucerne. He lived in Paris in 1928 - 29 to further his studies at the Academie Julian, and finally completed his studies in Berlin in the following year. Erni's first exhibited art was mainly in the medium of painting. His earliest work bears the influence of Picasso and of some of the painters of the surrealist movement. Even these earliest works, however, exhibit a very personal style nourished by classicism and constant experimenting.

After the Second World War, Hans Erni turned almost exclusively to original printmaking. Geneva was quickly becoming a major international centre for graphic art and Erni was at the forefront. For the following forty-five years he created a fine oeuvre of over 750 original prints, most being colour lithographs. Unlike most contemporary artists -- Erni never confined himself to any style of movement. Rather, he permitted the subject to guide his method of working. Hence, in Huit Pigeons, Erni treated the surface of the lithographic stone rather like a watercolour or wash drawing in order to capture the characteristic spontaneity of the pigeons.