Shags
A B WEBB: artist
Webb studied in England and worked as a commercial artist before emigrating to Western Australia in 1915. He was a highly skilled watercolourist and draughtsman, whose imagery usually illustrated the quieter and more harmonious landscapes of Western Australia. In about 1921 he started to experiment with printmaking, adopting the traditional Japanese method of hand-colouring the individual blocks and then hand-printing. He achieved sensitive gradations of colour similar to watercolour washes, and his method of work ensured that each print pulled from the edition was subtly different. On occasions Webb would cut down the blocks or vary the colours dramatically to produce different effects. Through his position as Art Master at Perth Technical College and his own A.B. Webb School of Art, he had considerable influence on the development of printmaking and watercolour painting in Western Australia between the wars. His contribution is acknowledged through the comprehensive collection of his work at the Art Gallery.
Title
Shags
Artist/Maker and role
A B WEBB: artist
Date
c 1921-c 1922
Medium
colour woodcut
Measurements
19.6 x 23.4 cm (sheet) 18.1 x 22.4 cm (image)
Credit line
Purchased 1976
The State Art Collection, The Art Gallery of Western Australia
Accession number
1976/0Q52