#MB94
1899
Grisaille watercolour on paper, heightened in white, ca. 15,5x21,5 cm (ca. 6 x 8 ½ in). Signed and dated in watercolour on the right, printed title (cut out of the magazine) tipped to the lower edge. From a photograph by Horace W. Nicholls, Johannesburg. Ink stamp “19 Sept 99” on verso. A very good watercolour.
This illustration made less than a month before the beginning of the Second Boer War (11 October 1899 – 31 May 1902) shows a young British boy practicing his marksmanship with an air rifle in the wilderness of South Africa. The intensity of the pre-war atmosphere is shown clearly - that everyone, even young boys, were preparing for the oncoming battle.
“Trained at Herkomer Art School, Bushey, Ewan worked on the staff of an illustrated weekly newspaper before moving to London in 1896. She illustrated a number of books on a wide range of subjects. By 1911 she had moved to St Ives, working from first 6 Porthmeor Studios, then from Number 2. Her early exhibits were aquatints and etchings, and later during the 1930s watercolours and oils. She produced some portraits and coastal and harbour scenes as well as flower studies in the 1950s. She was also a member of the Arts Club” (Cornwall Artist Index on-line).
