43. William Strang
(1859-1921)
Tinkers

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Strang, Tinkers

Tinkers

Etching and drypoint, 1882, 178 x 227 mm. Fine impression on japan with small margins, apparently as published in The Portfolio, but possibly from a deluxe edition. Strang’s etchings resemble no one else’s, except perhaps the earlier work of Alphonse Legros – with whom Strang happened to study. There is a dour, austere quality to his representations, the very opposite of sentimentality, that seems to set them off from the work of his compatriots and colleagues. A “tinker”is, of course, a repairer of pots and pans. But the word came to connote, in Ireland and perhaps also in Britain, a wanderer, an itinerant, a gypsy – and not in any positive sense. Strang seems to have both meanings in mind here.