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Encouraged by her father in the art of printmaking from an early age, Eileen soon rivalled him in talent and surpassed him in popularity, while neatly complementing his subjects by depicting children at play. Her etchings, exhibited in England at the Royal Academy from 1921, when she was only sixteen, attracted great attention, among critics, fellow artists and the general public.
Eileen’s etchings concern themselves with the ordinary events that make up a child’s day, simple and perhaps monotonous to the adult but ever fresh to the child itself. The majority of her etchings deal with children at play – on the beach, in country lanes and on street corners – or with animals, as in ‘The Linnet’s Freedom’ . Other plates show a sensitive approach to the solitary child as in the captivation of a child listening to ‘The Children’s Hour’ on the wireless. One of the reasons why she was able to depict such honest images of children free from nostalgia was that she was scarcely more than a child herself, producing most of the etchings whilst she was in her teens or early 20s.
Eileen’s early plates are characterised by a their multiple states, small sizes and focusing on one, two sometimes three, children. Her later plates reflect her growing confidence in composition. This confidence enabled her to depict a greater number of children in detailed settings without overcrowding the image, produced with fewer re-workings and states.
In 1930 the etching market declined and Eileen turned her skills to other forms of artistic expression. But it was not just for financial reasons that she turned away from etching. Quite simply, the child Eileen had grown up and no longer possessed the child’s frank and naïve vision of the world which had enabled her to capture children without sentimentality.
For further information please consult our 2 extensive volumes on the Sopers:
The Art of George and
Eileen Soper
128 pages with 265 illustrations, £15
Catalogue Raisonné
of the Prints and Etchings of George and Eileen Soper
160 pages with 703 illustrations, £25
