Dorsey Potter Tyson (1891-1969) was an American 'orientalist' artist specialising in Chinese scenes and activities. Brought up in Baltimore, he spent his entire life in the area. Commonly referred to as armchair orientalist; he never visited the east and his etchings are entirely imaginative.
His style was in a highly developed and colourful art deco manner, similiar to the British armchair orientalist, Elyse Lord. The style was very fashionable in England and Tyson supplied his etchings to this market, which effectively vanished when in the early 1930's, the British imposed a 50% tariff on such work. All his works date to before 1934.
The 'Brush Boat' shows a small boat with a load of millet straw and crewed by two men.
Tyson produced his etchings by a process that had been popuar in the late eighteen century. The etching plate was prepared for printing and inked. Before printing, coloured printers ink was applied to the selected areas and then the plate was printed. There are several variations of this technique and the accepted term is 'coloured on the plate'. The result is a colourful and vibrantly opaque picture, unachievable by any other printing technique.
170 x 175 mm. (Plateline).
Etching coloured on the plate.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
1932.
On Japanese paper.
Rare.