The British Engraver John Buckland Wright and His Sensual Females a la Paul Delvaux
John Buckland Wright (1897-1954) was a self-taught painter and engraver who depicted lovers and seductive female bathers in an idyllic setting. His adherence to female characters evokes in memory the paintings of the Belgian surrealist Paul Delvaux. Being a contemporary of another famous British engraver Eric Gill, Buckland produced some nude studies stylistically close to those by his controversial colleague.
Fig. 1. John Buckland Wright, Brussels, 1926. Private Collection (otago.ac.nz)
Fig. 2. Redroofs, Dunedin, the birthplace of Buckland c. 1906 (otago.ac.nz)
Training and Travelling
Buckland was born in New Zealand in a family of the director of the stock and station agency. After his father died in 1905, Buckland left his birthplace and moved to England to study history at the Oxford University. Having graduated as a historian, Buckland enrolled at the University of London to obtain a degree in architecture in 1922. While studying, he realized his aspiration to be an artist. At that time, Buckland was mesmerized by the sculptures of Greek gods exposed at the Ashmolean Museum, so he spent hours copying these works. Mythological content would prevail in his engravings afterward. In 1926, Buckland relocated to Belgium, where he started his self-training as an engraver. He made his first exhibition three years later. His initial works gained the recognition of Jan Greshoff, a poet, a journalist, and a co-founder of the first private publishing house in the Netherlands, who offered Buckland to work as a book illustrator.
Fig. 3. John and Mary Buckland Wright on their wedding day, 30 December 1929, otago.ac.nz (Mary Bell Anderson, was a Scots-Canadian musician)
Parisian Times
In 1929, Buckland settled in Paris, where he opened a workshop. He lived in France until the Second World War and practiced engraving under the pseudonym JBW at the Atelier 17 printmaking workshop, which he founded together with Stanley William Hayter. The workshop was attended by such prominent artists as Matisse, Chagall, Picasso, Miró, Dali, Józef Hecht, Yves Tanguy, or André Masson. In 1936, Buckland became a director of the Atelier 17. At these times, he also learned new techniques like copper engraving and intaglio.
Fig. 4. The spread of the catalogue of the Ashmolean Museum showing the works which inspired Buckland at the beginning of his career (otago.ac.nz)
