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WILLIAM STRANG (1859- )

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 982 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:STRANG (1859- )  , See also:English painter and en-graver, was See also:born at See also:Dumbarton, N.B., on the 13th of See also:February 1859, the son of See also:Peter See also:Strang, builder . He was educated at the Dumbarton See also:Academy, and worked for fifteen months in the counting-See also:house of a See also:firm of shipbuilders . He went to See also:London in 1875 when he was sixteen, and studied his See also:art under See also:Alphonse See also:Legros at the See also:Slade School for six years . Strang became assistant See also:master in the See also:etching class, and himself followed this art with See also:great success . He was one of the See also:original members of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, and exhibited at their first See also:exhibition in 1881 . Some of his See also:early plates were published in the See also:Portfolio and other art magazines . He worked in many See also:manners, etching, dry point, See also:mezzotint, See also:sand-ground mezzotint, and burin See also:engraving, and invented a draw-burin of his own . See also:Lithography and See also:wood-cutting were also used by him to re-produce his abundant imaginings . He cut a large wood-engraving of a See also:man ploughing, that has been published by the Art for See also:Schools Association . A privately produced See also:catalogue of his engraved See also:work contains more than three See also:hundred items . Amongst his earlier See also:works " Tinkers," " St See also:Jerome," " A Woman washing her Feet," an " Old See also:Book-See also:stall with a man See also:lighting his See also:pipe from a flare," and " The See also:head of a See also:Peasant Woman," on a sand-ground mezzotint, may be remembered . Later plates such as " See also:Hunger," " The See also:Bachelor's End " and " The Salvation See also:Army " cannot be forgotten .

Some of his best etchings have been in See also:

series; one of the earliest, illustrating See also:William See also:Nicholson's ballad of " See also:Aken See also:Drum," is remarkable for delicate and clear workmanship in the See also:shadow tones, showing great skill and See also:power over his materials, and for strong See also:drawing . Another See also:good series was the " See also:Pilgrim's Progress," revealing austere sympathy with See also:Bunyan's teaching . See also:Coleridge's " See also:Ancient Mariner " and Strang's own " See also:Allegory of See also:Death " and the Plowman's Wife," have served him with suitable imaginative subjects . Some of Rudyard See also:Kipling's stories have been illustrated by him, too, and Strang's portrait of Kipling has been one of his most successful portrait plates . Other good etched portraits are of Mr Ernest Sichel, See also:fine as a Vandyck, and of Mr J . B . See also:Clark, with whom Strang collaborated in illustrating See also:Baron See also:Munchausen and Sinbad the Sailor and See also:Ali Baba, published in 1895 and 1896 . See also:Thomas See also:Hardy, See also:Henry See also:Newbolt and many other distinguished men also sat to him . Proofs from these plates have been much valued; in fact, Strang's portrait etchings have inaugurated a new See also:form of reproductive See also:portraiture . A portrait which is a work of art and can be reproduced a number of times without losing any of its art qualities is one ideal way of recording appearances, as such prints can be treasured by many owners . Strang produced a number of good paintings, portraits, nude figures in landscapes, and See also:groups of peasant families, which have been exhibited in the Royal Academy, the See also:International Society, and several See also:German exhibitions . He painted a decorative seriesof scenes from the See also:story of See also:Adam and See also:Eve for the library of Mr See also:Hodson of See also:Wolverhampton; they were exhibited at the Whitechapel exhibition in 191o .

Some of his drawings from the nude See also:

model in See also:silver point and red and See also:black See also:chalk are very beautiful as well as powerful and true . He also painted a number of landscapes, mostly of a small See also:size . In later years he See also:developed a See also:style of drawing in red and black chalk, with the whites and high See also:lights rubbed out, on See also:paper stained with See also:water See also:colour . This method gives qualities of ,delicate modelling and refined form and gradations akin to the drawings of See also:Holbein . He See also:drew portraits in this manner of many members of the See also:Order of Merit for the royal library at See also:Windsor See also:Castle . In 1902 Strang retired from the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as a protest against the inclusion in its exhibitions of etched or engraved reproductions of pictures . His work was subsequently seen principally in the exhibitions of the Society of Twelve, of the International Society, to which See also:body he was elected in 1905, and of the Royal Academy . Strang was elected an See also:associate engraver of the Royal Academy when that degree was wisely revived in 1906 . (C .

End of Article: WILLIAM STRANG (1859- )
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