Martin Hardie, No.1
1915
Medium
drypoint
Dimensions
sheet: 20.5 × 25.6 cm (8 1/16 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.5988
Art Historical Context
James McBey’s “Martin Hardie, No.1,” created in 1915, is a fine example of early twentieth-century British printmaking. Executed in drypoint, the work captures a portrait with the medium’s characteristic soft, velvety lines produced by the burr raised along each incised stroke. Measuring just over eight by ten inches, the intimate scale encourages close looking and highlights the tactile quality of the printed surface. Drypoint was especially favored by artists of McBey’s generation for its direct, almost sketch-like immediacy, allowing spontaneous expression while still yielding rich tonal e...
About the Artist
James McBey
James McBey (1883–1959) was a Scottish artist renowned for his etchings and paintings, emerging from humble beginnings in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, as the illegitimate son of a blacksmith's daughter. Largely self-taught, he left school at fifteen to work as a bank clerk in Aberdeen, where he devoured art books from the public library and attended evening classes at Gray's School of Art to hone his ...