Charles William Cain, Orientalist - Tigris Night (Ezra's Tomb), Ca 1935

Details

Description

• Dry point
• Art dimensions: 9.75” x 14.75”
• Framed dimensions: 19.5” x 24.5” x 0.75”
• Signatures:
o … Read more • Dry point
• Art dimensions: 9.75” x 14.75”
• Framed dimensions: 19.5” x 24.5” x 0.75”
• Signatures:
o Signed in black ink "Charles W Cain" lower center;
o Initialed "CW" with larger 'C' within image lower left;
o Title and signature on the framing tag is likely the framer, possibly James Armour (below).
Limited edition indicated in black ink "88. 90." lower left-hand corner.

View of the Tigris river, which flows from Turkey through Iraq and into the Persian Gulf. Ezra's Tomb or the Tomb of Ezra is located in Iraq on the western shore of the Tigris and is believed to be the burial place of the biblical figure Ezra.

Charles William Cain, born in Surrey, was an English artist and Orientalist printmaker. His work is held in the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Yale Center for British Art. Cain died in Kent.

Charles William Cain (1893-1962) travelled in the Middle East, and lived in Baghdad for some years. A student of Camberwell School of Art, he was then an illustrator and cartoonist for the Johannesburg Star. During the Great War, he served with the Border Regiment in India and Mesopotamia until the Armistice. In 1920-21, he studied at the Royal College of Art under Frank Short.

Cain regularly exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1921 to 1959. In 1927, Greatorex and Corner & Wood Co published a catalogue of his etchings, engravings and dry points mostly depicting scenes in Iraq, Persia, India and Burma.

Notes:
Framers tag on reverse: ‘Tilden-Thurber; Fine Arts Department; Paintings, Water Colors, Etchings; Providence Rhode Island.’
• The Tilden-Thurber Building was built in 1895, and still stands at 292 Westminster St, Providence, RI
• A 1919 letterhead shows Tilden-Thurber Corp was known as Silversmiths, Jewelers, Importers, Stationers & an Art Gallery.
• The framers tag uses the image of the etching “Self-Portrait in a Velvet Cap with Plume” by Dutch artist Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn.
• This pieces has not been examined out of frame.

Historical notes, possible links to this item:
From the ‘Pamphlet Community Art Project,’ Brown University School of Design, Calendar of Art Events, December 1941.
• Exhibitions in Rhode Island include that at the Armour Gallery, December 1-31, ‘Etchings and Dry Points of Near East by Charles Cain.’
o Historical note: James Armour (1881-1952), born in Glasgow, Scotland, came to the US in 1925. In Rhode Island, Armour found employment in the art department at Tilden-Thurber in Providence. Known for his knowledge of prints and art, he became the proprietor of his own shop, the Armour Gallery in the Providence Arcade for about 15 years.

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