Exhibition

British Landscape Prints

Many of the greatest practitioners of landscape painting in Britain also were actively engaged in printmaking. "Picturesque to Pastoral" explores the graphic side of landscape in British art from the 18th through the 20th century.
Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727-1788), Wooded Landscape with Herdsman Driving Cattle over a Bridge, Rustic Lovers, and Ruined Castle, c. 1780, soft-ground etching. Gift of Norman Baker of Evans, Pierson, & Co., The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727-1788), Wooded Landscape with Herdsman Driving Cattle over a Bridge, Rustic Lovers, and Ruined Castle, c. 1780, soft-ground etching. Gift of Norman Baker of Evans, Pierson, & Co., The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.  

David Lucas (British, 1802-1881), after John Constable (British, 1776-1837), A Summerland (Ploughing in Suffolk), 1831, mezzotint. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

David Lucas (British, 1802-1881), after John Constable (British, 1776-1837), A Summerland (Ploughing in Suffolk), 1831, mezzotint. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Paul Drury (British, 1903-1987), March Morning, 1933, etching. Gift of Russel I. Kully, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Paul Drury (British, 1903-1987), March Morning, 1933, etching. Gift of Russel I. Kully, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Graham Sutherland (British, 1903-1980), Pecken Wood, 1928, etching. Gift of Russel I. Kully, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Graham Sutherland (British, 1903-1980), Pecken Wood, 1928, etching. Gift of Russel I. Kully, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

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Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727-1788), Wooded Landscape with Herdsman Driving Cattle over a Bridge, Rustic Lovers, and Ruined Castle, c. 1780, soft-ground etching. Gift of Norman Baker of Evans, Pierson, & Co., The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
David Lucas (British, 1802-1881), after John Constable (British, 1776-1837), A Summerland (Ploughing in Suffolk), 1831, mezzotint. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Paul Drury (British, 1903-1987), March Morning, 1933, etching. Gift of Russel I. Kully, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.
Graham Sutherland (British, 1903-1980), Pecken Wood, 1928, etching. Gift of Russel I. Kully, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Many of the greatest practitioners of landscape painting in Britain also were actively engaged in printmaking. “Picturesque to Pastoral” explores the graphic side of landscape in British art from the 18th through the 20th century. From the rustic countryside depicted by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) to the visionary dreamscapes of Graham Sutherland (1903–1980), this focused installation of about a dozen prints showcases the variety of techniques the medium affords—wood engraving, etching, aquatint, drypoint, and mezzotint—as well as the many ways the view of landscape changed over time. In their shift from rural to urban subjects and from poetic description to interior vision, these rarely seen items from The Huntington’s art collections reveal how artists reworked this subject matter to express their own sensibilities.