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Not currently on display at the V&A

The Vikings

Wood-Engraving Print
1908 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966), son of the architect Edward Godwin and the actress Ellen Terry, began his career as an actor at the Lyceum Theatre, where he appeared with Ellen Terry, and was hailed as one of the country's most promising young actors. He discovered his talent for woodcutting and engraving when introduced to it by the artists James Pryde and William Nicholson. His produced his first wood engraving in 1893, and by 1899 he had engraved nearly 200 blocks, specialising in the new technique of 'white line' wood engravings in which the lines are un-inked and the image emerges from the surrounding ink.

This is an engravings Craig made after his 1903 production of The Vikings at the Imperial Theatre. Ellen Terry took over the management of the Imperial Theatre and with complete artistic control she chose the works in which she would appear. The new venture focused on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen, including Ibsen's The Vikings of Helgeland by Ibsen in 1903, with Terry as Hiordis


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Vikings (popular title)
Materials and techniques
wood-engraving on Japon paper
Brief description
The Vikings by Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966). After a design for The Vikings of Helgeland by Ibsen, Imperial Theatre, 1903. Wood engraving on Japon paper, 1908
Physical description
Wood engraving on fine Japon paper mounted on support. Printed in black ink showing two crouching Viking figures with spears in silhouette, hunting by the sea at night, with towering white cliffs behind them.
Dimensions
  • Height: 22.0cm
  • Width: 15.2cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '1908' (Inscribed in pencil under the image.)
  • 'EGC 1925' (Monogram of Edward Gordon Craig and date under the image)
  • 'Only 150 copies printed. copy 72' (Inscribed in pencil, lower edge of paper)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Sybil Rosenfeld
Subjects depicted
Summary
Edward Gordon Craig (1872-1966), son of the architect Edward Godwin and the actress Ellen Terry, began his career as an actor at the Lyceum Theatre, where he appeared with Ellen Terry, and was hailed as one of the country's most promising young actors. He discovered his talent for woodcutting and engraving when introduced to it by the artists James Pryde and William Nicholson. His produced his first wood engraving in 1893, and by 1899 he had engraved nearly 200 blocks, specialising in the new technique of 'white line' wood engravings in which the lines are un-inked and the image emerges from the surrounding ink.

This is an engravings Craig made after his 1903 production of The Vikings at the Imperial Theatre. Ellen Terry took over the management of the Imperial Theatre and with complete artistic control she chose the works in which she would appear. The new venture focused on the plays of George Bernard Shaw and Henrik Ibsen, including Ibsen's The Vikings of Helgeland by Ibsen in 1903, with Terry as Hiordis
Collection
Accession number
S.817-1997

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Record createdApril 30, 2009
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