Hand-coloured etching depicting a woman standing beside a small gnarled tree; she wears a turquoise tunic decorated with a dragon, its claw visible at her shoulder, and wide yellow trousers gathered at the ankle; she holds the middle of a skipping rope in her hands, the handles trailing on the ground behind her, limited edition no. 64/100, signed in pencil by the artist on the border.
Literature
Lord first attracted critical acclaim in November 1921, following an exhibition of 70 drawings at the Brook Street Gallery, London. Her technique contributed to her distinctive style; she would combine drypoint with woodcut colour printing. Her use of drypoint emulated Japanese key block printing techniques. She would use colour-inked wood blocks to add the colour, over-printing the drypoint design.
Although her hand-coloured etchings evoke Chinese scenes, Elyse Lord never travelled to China. As Malcolm C Salman puts it in his forward to Masters of the Colour Print I - Elyse Lord (1927, London);'…although the pervading pictorial characteristics are for the most part of Chinese suggestion, their purpose is in no sense realistic representation of any phase of life in China. On the contrary, their expression is actually personal to the artist who […] has, strangely enough, never been to China, the country which, from her earliest years, allured her romantic interest with book, picture and document'. Lord took inspiration from oriental paintings and textiles as the basis for her designs, which also reflect Art Deco influences and 1920's fashion.
