British Council Collection

THE NEW TIE 1922

Walter Richard Sickert (1860 – 1942)

Details

Dimension: 27.6 X 17.5 CM

Media: ETCHING

Accession number: P2789

Summary

This is the same interior as used for L’armoire a glace, but with the male figure superimposed over the seated woman next to the wardrobe. This is a first state etching, the final plate bears the title of the work. Sickert offered them to Colnaghi’s in London on a sale or return basis in 1922.

Further reading:
Ruth Bromberg, Walter Sickert Prints, Yale University Press, New Haven and London 2000

Glossary

Etching

An intaglio process whereby a metal plate (normally copper, zinc or steel) is covered with an acid-resistant layer of rosin mixed with wax. With a sharp point, the artist draws through this ground to reveal the plate beneath. The plate is then placed in an acid bath (a water and acid solution) and the acid bites into the metal plate where the drawn lines have exposed it. The waxy ground is cleaned off and the plate is covered in ink and then wiped clean, so that ink is retained only in the etched lines. The plate can then be printed through an etching press. The strength of the etched lines depends on the length of time the plate is left in the acid bath.