Eric Slater was a little known watercolour and colour woodcut artist, based in Sussex during the 1920s. His best known work The Stackyard was published in 1938 by the Woodcut Society of Kansas and presented in a folder with an introduction by Campbell Dodgson. Dodgson served on the Fine Arts Advisory Committee and it is probably through this connection that the British Council acquired the work for its collection. Slater’s watercolours and prints tended towards the decorative with areas of flat colour with little or no modulation.

http://www.ericslater.co.uk/

Glossary

  • Watercolour

    A paint composed of water-soluble pigment, which has been ground in gum, usually gum Arabic. When made opaque with white, watercolour is generally called gouache. Colours are usually applied and spread with brushes and water, but other tools can also be used. Most watercolour painting is done on paper, but other absorbent grounds can also be employed. The term also denotes a work of art executed in this medium.

  • Woodcut

    A relief print made by printing from the top surface of a plank of wood into which a design has been cut with gouges or knives. The cuts (which show up white in the print) are usually quite bold because of the texture and grain of the plank, whether hard or soft wood. This term is broadly used to cover any print from a wooden block.