As well as telling for the first time the story of Hewitt Henry Rayner - probably the 20th century's most prolific drypoint etcher - this biography also provides fresh insights into the personality of Walter Sickert, observed during a friendship that lasted almost a decade. Matthew Sturgis, noted Sickert expert, has contributed the Foreword to this biography. He commented: 'This book adds many things to the record of Sickert's life, his working practices, his teaching methods, his work-spaces, and his character. It will be a useful and enduring addition to the story of early Twentieth Century British art.' Australian-born Hewitt Henry Rayner came to England in 1923 at the age of 21 to study art, fell in love with London (and Chelsea in particular), and stayed for the rest of his life. He won a place at the Royal Academy Schools in 1925, where Sickert was a visiting teacher. The two struck up a friendship and saw each other regularly at Sickert's homes and studios, in cafes and restaurants, and sometimes sketching together in London locations. Sickert was a generous friend and mentor to Rayner, who assiduously noted down the things his 'master' did and said.
These first-hand reminiscences form a significant strand of the book. Other figures from London's artistic and literary worlds of the 1920s and 1930s who appear in the Rayner story include Augustus John, Nina Hamnett, Ethel Mannin, Yoshio Markino, Charles Sims, Dame Ethel Walker and Philip Wilson Steer. Unusually, and against Sickert's advice, Rayner chose drypoint etching as his principal medium, and from 1926 on adopted 'Henry Rayner' as his professional name. Between 1926 and 1945 he produced what is quite probably the largest body of original drypoint etchings by any 20th century artist. Over 500 plates are known, most in his distinctive 'Impressionistic' style. Most of the plates have survived. Although Rayner has been largely forgotten since his death in 1957, there are numerous institutions that hold examples of his drypoints. These include the V&A, the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Collection at Windsor, as well as many regional galleries in Britain and major galleries in Australia and New Zealand.
This biography charts Rayner's struggle to earn a living as an artist in the face of an economic depression, ill health, serious war injuries and - as he saw it - cold-shouldering by the British art establishment. It is rich in detail, thanks in part to a large archive of the artist's unpublished autobiographical manuscripts, notebooks, essays and correspondence, discovered recently. Some 95 examples of Rayner's work are reproduced in the book, together with 70 photographs, making it an important reference work on this neglected artist.
