Sydney Long, “Pastoral Soft-Ground”, 1918

Sydney Long (1871–1955)

“Pastoral Soft-Ground”, 1918, pencil signed and titled by the artist and numbered 31 in an edition of 50 impressions.

Soft-ground etching with plate tone (from a zinc plate) printed in a warm black ink on buff coloured wove paper.

Size; (sheet) 46 x 34.1 cm; (platemark) 36.4 x 25.2 cm.

Inscribed in pencil below the image: (lower left corner of sheet) “Pastoral”; (left) “31/50”; (centre) “Pastoral Soft-Ground”; (right) “Sydney Long”.

Mendelssohn 26 (Joanna Mendelssohn 1979, “The Life and Work of Sydney Long”, Copperfield Publishing, p. 141 [illus.], p. 251, cat. 26); Gray 69 (Anne Gray 2012, “Sydney Long: The Spirit of the Land”, National Gallery of Australia [exh. cat.], p. 158, cat. no. 69).

See the description of this print offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1924-1028-7.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression. The sheet has mount stains and remnants of glue where a mount was once attached, otherwise the sheet has no tears, holes, folds or significant stains to the image area.  

I am selling this masterwork of soft-ground etching by one of the major early Australian printmakers, for AU$3000 in total (currently/approximately US$1991.42/EUR1834.90/GBP1562.93 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$3000) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in acquiring this exceptionally rare and very large etching—a truly outstanding etching and, interestingly, one of Sydney Long’s first prints to be exhibited and possibly executed when Long was still a student (see Gray [2013] p. 158)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.