Mortimer Menpes Art
Australian, 1855-1938
Mortimer Luddington Menpes was born in Port Adelaide, South Australia on February 22, 1855, the second son of property developer James Menpes, who with his wife, Ann, had settled in Australia in 1839.Educated at Adelaide Educational Institution, he attended classes at the Adelaide School of Design, and did some excellent work as a photo-colourist, but his formal art training began at the School of Art in London in 1878, after his family had moved back to England in 1875. Edward Poynter was a fellow student at the school. Menpes first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1880, and, over the following 20 years, 35 of his paintings and etchings were shown at the Academy.
Menpes set off on a sketching tour of Brittany in 1880, during which he met James McNeill Whistler. He became Whistler's pupil, and at one stage shared a flat with him at Cheyne Walk on the Chelsea Embankment in London. He was taught etching by Whistler, whose influence, together with that of Japanese design, is evident in his later work. Menpes became a major figure in the etching revival , producing more than seven hundred different etchings and drypoints , which he usually printed himself. As early as 1880, a selection of ten of his drypoint portraits, donated to the British Museum by Charles A. Howell, brought him critical acclaim.
In 1875, Menpes married fellow Australian Rosa Mary Grosse (d. 23 Aug 1936) in London. They had a son, Mortimer James (b. 1879) and two daughters, Rose Maud Goodwin and Dorothy Whistler.
A visit to Japan in 1887 led to his first one-man exhibition at Dowdeswell's Gallery in London. Menpes moved into a property at 25 Cadogan Gardens, Sloane Square, designed for him by A. H. Mackmurdo in 1888 and decorated it in the Japanese style. Whistler and Menpes quarreled in 1888 over the interior design of the house, which Whistler felt was a brazen copying of his own ideas. The house was sold in 1900, and Menpes moved to Kent.
In 1900, after the outbreak of the Boer War, Menpes was sent to South Africa as a war artist for the weekly illustrated magazine Black and White. After the end of the war in 1902, he travelled widely, visiting Burma, Egypt, France, India, Italy, Japan, Kashmir, Mexico, Morocco, and Spain. Many of his illustrations were published in travel books by A
C Black. His book on the Delhi Durbar was an illustrated record of the commemoration in Delhi of the coronation of King Edward VII.
Menpes became a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers (RE) in 1881, Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) in 1885, Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI) in 1897, and Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) in 1899. In 1904 he published the memoir of his time with Whistler, Whistler as I Knew Him. Mortimer Menpes died in Pangebourne on April 1, 1938.to
1
3
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
2
1
2
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
3
10,222
2,785
2,504
1,384
2
Artist: Mortimer Menpes
Mexican on a donkey, Mexico, Mortimer Menpes etching with drypoint, 1914
By Mortimer Menpes
Located in Melbourne, Victoria
Signed in pencil below the image. Signed and dated in the plate. The number '327' inscribed in pencil in lower margin.
Mortimer Menpes was an artist and engraver, author, printmake...
Category
Early 20th Century Naturalistic Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Engraving
"A Breton Beggar" original etching
By Mortimer Menpes
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original etching. This impression is printed on watermarked Arches MBM laid paper. Size: 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (plate) with good margins. Signed in the plate (not by hand).
Category
Late 19th Century Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Etching
Bassin d
Apollon, Versailles (Fountain of Appollo, Versailles).
By Mortimer Menpes
Located in Plano, TX
Bassin d'Apollon, Versailles (Fountain of Appollo, Versailles). Drypoint. Menpes 364. 7 1/8 x 9 1/8 (sheet 8 13/16 x 10 7/8). A very rich impression with drypoint burr and plate tone...
Category
Early 20th Century Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
$400 Sale Price
20% Off
Related Items
Watch Dogs: 1300 hrs, Pop Art Etching by Kingsley Parker
Located in Long Island City, NY
Kingsley Parker, American (1947 - ) - Watch Dogs: 1300 hrs, Year: 1986, Medium: Etching, signed, numbered, titled and dated in pencil, Edition: Working Proof, Size: 24.5 x 21.75 ...
Category
1980s Pop Art Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Etching
$575
H 24.5 in W 21.75 in
Coenties Slip
By Charles Frederick William Mielatz
Located in Middletown, NY
Lower Manhattan and the Seaport as the artist imagined it would have appeared before 1835.
New York: 1907.
Etching with drypoint on Japon paper, 13 7/8 x 9 3/4 inches (353 x 248 mm...
Category
Late 19th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Etching, Drypoint, Handmade Paper
Tugs on the Hudson
By Charles Frederick William Mielatz
Located in Middletown, NY
Drypoint etching with engraving printed in black ink on Japanese mulberry paper, 4 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches (113 x 84 mm), full margins. In superb condition. A beautiful New York City river...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Drypoint, Etching
Amiens; The Cathedral of Notre Dame, from the Lower Town
By John Taylor Arms
Located in Middletown, NY
A superb impression from the artist's own collection.
Etching with drypoint on watermarked FJ Head & Co. handmade laid paper, 10 3/4 x 9 7/8 inches (272 x 252 mm); sheet 18 1/8 x 14 ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, Etching, Drypoint
$1,700
H 10.71 in W 9.93 in
Greyhound
By Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Located in Columbia, MO
Greyhound
1773-1802
Engraving
14 x 10 inches
Framed: 24 x 21 inches
Category
1770s Naturalistic Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Engraving
Chicago Skyline
By Paul Schumann
Located in Middletown, NY
A beautiful turn-of-the-century lake view of Chicago by an American artist known for his Texas landscapes.
Etching with drypoint on watermarked Umbria laid paper with deckle edges, 7 1/4 x 10 7/8 inches (182 x 275 mm), full margins. Signed and numbered 4/25 in pencil, lower margin. In good condition with adhesive residue at the sheet edges on the verso, does not show through to the recto. A lovely Lake Michigan landscape...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching, Drypoint
Steps to the Grand Canal, St. Mark
s in the distance, Venice.
By Donald Shaw MacLaughlan
Located in Middletown, NY
A lovely view of Venice from the water.
Etching with drypoint on antique cream laid paper with a large figural watermark, signed in pencil, lower right. 14 1/4 x 11 inches (362 x 280...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Drypoint, Etching
Flowering Garden Pea Plant: 18th C. Hand-colored Botanical Engraving by Weinmann
By Johann Wilhelm Weinmann
Located in Alamo, CA
This hand-colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) is entitled "Pisum Mapis flore pupureo". It is plate 818 in Weinmann's monumental publ...
Category
Mid-18th Century Naturalistic Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Engraving, Mezzotint
A Flowering Cactus Plant: 18th C. Hand-colored Botanical Engraving by Weinmann
By Johann Wilhelm Weinmann
Located in Alamo, CA
This hand-colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) is entitled "Cereus Erectus Altissimo Surinamensis (Cereus Cactus Plant)". It is plate...
Category
Mid-18th Century Naturalistic Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Engraving, Mezzotint
New York Skyline
By Louis H. Ruyl
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching with drypoint on cream wove paper with deckle edges, 4 3/8 x 12 3/4 inches (233 x 323 mm); sheet 9 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches (240 x 338 mm), full margins. Signed and numbered 4/75 ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Etching, Drypoint
Cortland Street
Located in Middletown, NY
Etching with drypoint on antique handmade laid Japon paper, 12 7/8 x 7 1/2 (327 x 191 mm); sheet 15 5/16 x 10 7/16 (389 x 265 mm), full margins. Signed in pencil in the lower margin....
Category
Early 20th Century American Modern Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Drypoint, Etching
Flowering Pea Plant: An 18th C. Hand-colored Botanical Engraving by J. Weinmann
By Johann Wilhelm Weinmann
Located in Alamo, CA
This hand-colored botanical mezzotint and line engraving by Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (1683-1741) is entitled "A. Lathyrus Major Peremis Richern B. Lathyrus Narbonensis Flore Albescen...
Category
Mid-18th Century Naturalistic Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Engraving, Mezzotint
Previously Available Items
Portrait of Mrs. Monkton Hill
By Mortimer Menpes
Located in New Orleans, LA
A beautiful haunting portrait of Mrs Monkton Hill
Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Mortimer Menpes came to England in 1875. By the time of his momentous meeting with Whistler in 1...
Category
Late 19th Century English School Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Drypoint
Portrait of Whistler with the White Lock, Wearing a Monocle.
By Mortimer Menpes
Located in Plano, TX
Mortimer Luddington Menpes, N.E.A.C., R.B.A., R.E., R.I., R.O.I.
c. 1880. Drypoint. Menpes 22. 6 1/2 x 5 3/4 (sheet 11 x 8 7/8). A fine impression printed on '[ing]res FRANCE' coun...
Category
Late 19th Century Impressionist Mortimer Menpes Art
Materials
Drypoint
H 20 in W 16 in D 2 in
Mortimer Menpes art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Mortimer Menpes art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Mortimer Menpes in engraving, drypoint, etching and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Mortimer Menpes art, so small editions measuring 6 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Harry Rogers, Ohara Koson, and Max Pollak. Mortimer Menpes art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $150 and tops out at $3,500, while the average work can sell for $490.