Julian Trevelyan: Catalogue Raisonne of Prints

Julian Trevelyan (1910-1988) was a distinguished artist and printmaker best known for his Surrealist prints of the 1930s. This important catalogue raisonné of his prints, originally published in 1998, has become an essential reference resource for collectors and students of Trevelyan’s prints and is reissued now in a new printing with minor revisions.

Trevelyan first encountered Surrealism in Paris in the 1930s when he worked in Stanley Hayter’s print studio alongside artists such as Miró and Picasso. From Hayter he learned etching processes which were radically different from anything that had been achieved in the medium previously, and in this atmosphere he became a Surrealist overnight. In 1937 he joined Tom Harrisson’s Mass Observation movement, which was also to have a profound effect on his work.

Between 1955 and 1963 Trevelyan worked at the Royal College of Art, where he became Head of the Etching Department. Not only was he a highly influential teacher, inspiring students such as David Hockney, Ron Kitaj and Norman Ackroyd, but he was also an important innovator of modern print techniques and today is increasingly regarded as the quiet driving force behind the etching revolution of the 1960s.

Trevelyan was brilliantly inventive and possessed a wit and innocence of eye that could discover enchantment in the most mundane scenes. His prints, meticulously documented in this complete illustrated catalogue, reveal his astonishing imagination and marvellous spirit of adventure. This beautifully designed book is a celebratory tribute to his life and work in printmaking.