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Indian Durbar

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Durbar
Menpes (1855 - 1938) was born in Australia, came to England when about 20 and apprenticed under James Mcneill Whistler the famous American artist who lived in England then, being a highly rated artist and portrait He became prosperous through his art, much of which was published in illustrated book form by A &C Black in London with text by his daughter Dorothy. goes in that he also sometimes drew from photos. He was a truly outstanding artist of his time and was also one of the most innovative in that he also did draw from photographs besides being a highly proficient etcher and engraver as well as lithographer. Menpes had his own printing press in London which produced all the prints for his illustrated books. Menpes and Dorothy came out to India for the Durbar of 1903 and the book The Durbar, published by A & C Black, followed later that year with text by Dorothy and a hundred chromolithographs by Mortimer Menpes. The plates were produced in the Menpes Press under the personal supervision of the artist. Menpes's Durbar drawings are perhaps one of the last instances of the handmade print or engraving making a brave last stand against the advent of photography and photo offset. Menpes is on record about his Durbar and other Indian drawings : "his wish was to capture the brilliancy of Indian sunlight, the dazzling luminosity of atmospheric effects, rather than to make studies of local colour and native types". Th e moving spirit behind the 1903 Durbar was the Baron Curzon of Kedleston, Viceroy between 1898 - 1905. What makes Curzon's Durbar so interesting, apart from its colourful and grand pageantry, is the personality of Curzon himself. And then there is the pictorial record of the proceedings left for us by the artist Mortimer Menpes. Curzon loved any form of public display of imperial power. This eBook (88MB) is available for immediate download. Simply order below to have a copy of this rare book in PDF format.

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