A Rose by Elyse Ashe Lord (England, 1885-1971), original etching, pencil signed, limited edition numbered 34/75, circa mid 20th century, framed - 17 3/4" x 17 3/4" 
 
Elyse Ashe Lord, painter and printmaker, is well-known for her works inspired by the Far East and for her unusual, multi-layered printmaking technique, which involved a combination of etching, drypoint, aquatint, and woodcut. She lived her entire life in Britain and although her work shows a strong Asian influence, she never actually traveled the continent. Her inspiration instead came from Chinese literature, artwork and her own imagination. Her unique style uses fine drypoint lines and delicate, yet vibrant colors to create images that that have a serene, almost dreamlike quality. Lord also designed and hand-painted many of the frames used on her prints. She attended Heatherley’s School of Art in Chelsea, London at some point prior to the WW1. From 1915 to at least 1921, Lord’s principle medium was painting, especially watercolors and paintings on wood panel. In November 1921, she had a two week exhibition of her output of the prior six years at the Brook Street Gallery in London. She was elected a full member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1922, and her first color prints were issued and shown by the Fine Arts Society in Bond Street, London, in the spring of 1923. Lord’s early prints were either drypoints colored by hand or aquatints and evidently were self-published. At some point, however, she started to combine the technique of drypoint with woodblock color printing. Lord used the drypoint plate design in a manner similar to how the Japanese used the keyblock in multi-block color printing. Colors would then be added by over-printing the drypoint design using colored-inked woodblocks. It is unclear if she made any prints after WWII, and she died in Abingdon in 1971 at age 86. Lord’s estate of unsold prints and paintings was left to her last publisher, H.C. Dickins. During the course of her career, Lord would exhibit her prints and paintings in the U.K. at the Royal Academy, the Royal Cambrian Academy, the Royal Scottish Academy, the Royal Society of Artists (Birmingham), the Walker Gallery (Liverpool), the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, the Goupel Gallery, the Leferve Gallery, and the Redfern Gallery, among others. Lord would additionally exhibit at the Paris Salon, where she won a silver medal, and with the Chicago Society of Etchers, and she was also a member of the Society of Graver-Printers in Colour.