Artwork description:

An original handmade and signed linocut print of the National Theatre in London.

This is a multi block linocut in a variable edition of 50. The main image is of the actual linocut for sale - No.1.

Printed with oil based inks on acid-free paper.

The image is just under A4 in size and is signed and editioned in pencil at the bottom by me, the artist.

The print will be sent with a mount and backing board, in a cellophane bag and securely packaged with cardboard. It will fit a standard sized frame (mount is 30 by 40cm or 12 by 16 inches).

The National Theatre is on the south bank of the Thames in central London, and is part of a post-war arts complex which includes a cinema, art gallery, various cafes and lounges, bookshop and concert venue.

The National Theatre building opened in stages (no pun intended!) in the mid-1970s. Its Brutalist concrete style has divided opinion ever since, with the future King Charles memorably describing it in 1988 as "a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London without anyone objecting".

On the other hand, it fired the imagination of Sir John Betjeman, a man not noted for his enthusiasm for brutalist architecture. He wrote to architect Sir Denys Lasdun "It is a lovely work and so good from so many angles...it has that inevitable and finished look that great work does."

It is certainly a distinctive building, and great fun for the printmaker.

Materials used:

oil-based inks, lino block, paper

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