This is a rare etching and aquatint by the Scottish printmaker, Ian Fleming. It is No. 8 from his Comment Series.
It is entitled in the print as part of the composition: Love is Where you Find it. It is pencil signed below: Comment No. 8 and also with a dedication to Guy Peploe (grandson of SJ Peploe). It is dated June 1981 and signed Ian Fleming.
The print shows a couple sharing an embrace. The setting is a rather bleak cityscape - probably in Glasgow. In the background are railings that fence off a drying green behind. Washing has been left out on the line and flutter in an evening breeze. A brick wall is on the other side - and behind forming a backdrop is a row of tall tenement houses. The lights from the windows form a decorative pattern. It is evening and the courting couple shares a kiss under a lamp post. Their features are lit up by the street light above them. They look life-weary and seek some comfort and solace in each other's arms.
It is a rather downbeat image and the subject documents just how hard life could be in the tenements of inner-city Glasgow. Tall cranes sited at the Glasgow Docks are seen just above the rooftops in the far distance.
Works from the Comment Series by Fleming are now hard to source - and perhaps their dark imagery did not make them popular acquisitions for print collectors. This particular print is very rare - and more so in that, it seems to have been a special impression made for presentation to Guy Peploe.
Dimensions: Frame is 33.5 x 39 cm. Image size is 16.5 x 24 cm.
The print is in excellent condition with no issues - it has recently been re-framed and is beautifully presented ready to hang on your wall.
It will be sent to you with Next Day Special Delivery with the Royal Mail - and this will be charged at £10 at checkout.
BIOGRAPHY: Ian Fleming was born in Glasgow in 1906 - and was a key figure in Scottish printmaking.
He was taught lithography and woodcut by Chica McNab, and was introduced to engraving by Charles Murray. He taught at Glasgow School of Art from 1931-1941, where his students included Robert Colquhoun and Robert MacBryde. During this time he met William Wilson, with whom he exchanged many print-making ideas. He served in the police and army during WWII and continued sketching and printmaking throughout. Some of his most notable works are the prints he made of the Glasgow blitz.
Fleming rejoined the college staff after the war and from 1948-1954 was Warden at the Patrick Allan-Fraser Art College, Hospitalfield, Arbroath. From 1954 to 1971 he was Head of Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen.
He was a member of several exhibiting societies and became the Royal Scottish Academy's longest-established member. He was elected ARSA in 1947, and RSA in 1956. Shortly after arriving in Aberdeen, he played the key role in the revival of the Aberdeen Artists' Society, which had lain moribund since 1939.
After retiring in 1971 he became the enthusiastic Founder and Chairman of Artspace and Peacock Printmakers. He died at Aberdeen in 1994.