LONDON.- This summer, the Royal Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of drawings, watercolours and prints by Sir Henry Rushbury RA (1889-1968). The exhibition, in the Tennant Gallery, offers a rare opportunity to reappraise the work of one of the great British painter-etchers.

Internationally renowned during his lifetime but neglected today, Rushbury took as his subjects the landscapes, cities and street-life of Britain and Europe. Whether working in watercolour or drypoint, drawing was the cornerstone of Rushbury’s art, enabling him to conjure extraordinary effects of mood and atmosphere in his depictions of the places and people he encountered.

The selection of works on display reveals the artist’s rich and varied career. Studying first at Birmingham Municipal School of Art (1903-09), Rushbury moved to bohemian Chelsea in 1912 and soon established a reputation as a promising young etcher. He went on to become an official War Artist in both World Wars and, between them, one of the most sought-after printmakers of the etching ‘boom’ of the 1920s, noted also for his exceptionally fine watercolours. Elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1927 and a full Academician in 1936, Rushbury served as Keeper of the Royal Academy Schools from 1949-64, proving a generous and open-minded supporter of a younger generation of artists in training.

The exhibition includes loans from Tate, the Imperial War Museum and Museums Sheffield, as well as private collections and works from the Royal Academy’s own collection.