Norman Stevens features in new touring exhibition

The Redfern Gallery is pleased to learn that Norman Stevens ARA has been included in The Printed Line, a touring exhibition of prints drawn from the Arts Council Collection, London. Opening at Torre Abbey Museum, Torquay, the exhibition considers how artists have used a variety of printmaking media to exploit the potential of the printed line, such as Ben Nicholson's rich drypoints; crosshatched etchings by Walter Sickert; the linear etchings of David Hockney; and the bold colours of Bridget Riley's screenprints. 

 

Stevens' Clapboard House with Fronds will be among the prints on display. The etching was inspired by Stevens' 7,000-mile bus tour of the USA in 1965, where he met up with Hockney, Patrick Procktor and Colin Self. Stevens returned in 1969, staying with Hockney in California. He was struck by the intensity of the sunlight, and how it emphasised the contrasting forms of the natural plant-life and the manmade clapboards. Stevens made several prints of clapboard houses, as well as large-scale paintings including Porch, which was purchased for the Tate in 1972. Printed by James Collyer and John Crossley, Clapboard House with Fronds was published by Alecto International in 1972, one of seventeen prints Stevens made for Editions Alecto during 1971 and 1976.

 

The exhibition opens on 6 April in Torquay, and then tours the UK at various locations until 15 November 2019.