Between 1910 and 1930, Dorothy EG Woollard, RE (1886-1986), produced some 200 original etchings and woodcuts. Her townscapes and landscapes attracted an enthusiastic market in the UK and the USA.
In 1914, The Times newspaper rated Dorothy Woollard's latest etchings as on a par with work by DY Cameron. She exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the RE (Royal Society of Painter Etchers), the Royal West of England Academy and other venues, and her work was reproduced in the important art magazines and reference works of the day.
Dorothy Woollard was a major player in a buoyant market for original etchings. A graduate of the Etching School at the Royal College of Art in London, she had been a pupil of Sir Frank Short. Yet within a couple of decades her work had been largely forgotten. Black and white prints were out of fashion. Prices crashed as the ‘etching revival’ ended in the late 1920s. Dorothy, like many successful ‘black and white’ artists of the period, slipped from view.
But not completely. The Victoria & Albert Museum has since 1916 held an important collection of Dorothy Woollard etchings. The British Museum has a small collection of her work, acquired in 1917. And Bristol's Museum and Art Gallery has a large collection of her work - fittingly, as Bristol was her home town.
Dorothy Woollard was a more important etcher than has generally been recognised, both in terms of the number of etchings she produced, and the quality. Today, her importance is being re-assessed, and interest in her work is growing.
The 2008 book 'Dorothy Woollard and the etching revival' is the principal reference resource on Dorothy Woollard and her work. The aim of this website is to provide supplementary information that was not available when the book went to press.
Between 1910 and 1930, Dorothy EG Woollard, RE (1886-1986), produced some 200 original etchings and woodcuts. Her townscapes and landscapes attracted an enthusiastic market in the UK and the USA.