Gufas, Bagdad

Code: 54764

Date: 1926

Drypoint etching.   Very fine, delicate impression, from the only edition of 75 SIGNED proofs.  One of Cain’s largest plates, this image shows fishermen in their coracle-like boats on the river Tigris at Baghdad, in Iraq. In 1915 Cain had joined the Artists’ Rifles in the Near East and when the war was over he had taken a studio in Baghdad, using the city as his base for over a year. Overall sheet size in conservation grade mount and back with decorative v groove: 60.4cms x 48.6cms ; image size: 422mm x 302mm.  Pale yellow line from old mount which, now properly mounted, should fade over time.

Charles William Cain [1893-1962] A student of Camberwell School of Art and then an illustrator cartoonist for the Johannesburg Star until WWI when he joined the Border Regiment in India and Mesopotamia until Armistice, and entered the Royal College of Art under Frank Short 1920-1. During the 1920's and 1930's Cain produced seventy-four original etchings and engravings, all published in London by Greatorex. The large majority of his prints deal with scenes in Iraq, Persia, Indian and Burma and Cain developed a strong reputation as a major Orientalist printmaker. Today, a large collection of Charles W. Cain's drypoints will be found at the British Museum, London.