MARTIN, Frank. GROVE PARK PRESS. ~ Drawn from Life.
No. 1 of 48 special copies housed together in a solander box with 16 large ink jet prints of drawings done by Martin between 1951 and 1972. The book is illustrated throughout with reproductions of Martin’s drawings. 4to., original printed wrappers, housed in a tray in a large folio solander box with the extra set of prints covered in Martin designed patterned paper. An excellent copy.
Frank Martin was a prolific life drawer. The book describes in detail his process. As he says ‘they were not made as preliminary studies for other works such as paintings or prints; they were done for their own sake because I enjoyed drawing from life and found it a welcome relief from the cramped and solitary work of engraving wood-blocks for book illustration”. He describes how they were all done in his studio in the ‘Italian Village’, an artist’s studio colony set up before the war in Fulham just by Stamford Bridge, mainly using Camberwell School of Art students, where he was Professor of Engraving and Etching.