Fifteen prints and drawings from the artist's time in the Holy Land, pencil, pen and ink, lithographs, some with annotations, various sizes, different subjects, approx. 230 x 280 mm. (9 x 11 in), handling creases, some surface dirt and minor spotting, loose, unframed, [circa 1930s].

Synopsis

Percy John Smith (1882-1948), painter, printmaker, calligrapher and book designer. He studied at Camberwell and Central schools of art and crafts from 1900-1902 and subsequently became a lecturer there. Throughout his life he was at the centre of the art and crafts movement.
He served in the Royal Marines Artillery in First World War and produced some unforgettable etchings which were allied in theme to he war poems of Wilfred Owen. He saw active service in the trenches, and plates for etchings were smuggled out to him between pages of magazines.
In the early 1930’s Smith worked in Palestine. Many views of the country were produced as etchings and pencil drawings. his folder includes 15 prints and drawings from his time in the Holy Land, including landscapes, figure studies, architectural sites of interest, pencil, pen and ink, lithographs.
The Society of Painter-Etchers and at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Elected Royal Designer for Industry (RDI), 1940 and Master of the Art Workers’ Guild, 1941. Typographic consultant to the publisher Heinemann. Produced a number of books of etchings including ‘The Dance of Death’, 1914-18 and ‘The Singing Beggar’. He also wrote The Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, with drawings by James Guthrie and published ‘Twenty-one studies and etchings of Palestine’ in 1934. His work is held in several public collections including the V&A Museum as well as the British Museum.