Percy John Delf Smith, R.D.I. 1882-1948.
The Dance of Death. 1914-1918.
The Dance of Death. 1914-1918. 1921. Portfolio of 7 etchings with drypoint. Sheet: 18 1/2 x 15 1/2. Edition 100, #36. Each proof signed and titled in pencil. $20,000 the set.
Campbell Dodgson, C.B.E., Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum wrote: " The Great War produced its harvest of etchings and lithographs of trenches, craters, barbed wire, shattered houses and blasted trees; but most of them were literal representations of things seen. Mr. Percy Smith, with imagination rare among English etchers, and akin to that of the draughtsmen of the northern Renaissance, combines with his sympathetic treatment of the soldier marching or fallen, crippled, maimed and agonised, the vision of an awful Presence, relentless, patient, callous, exultant' 'awed.' in a single etching that can never be forgotten, by one culminating horror. 'The Dance of Death, 1914-1918," is not a pretty set of etchings, but it is one of the most serious and memorable works of art inspired by the War. Print Collector's Quarterly 8 (1921): 324-25.
Custom portfolio case. 19 x 16 x 1inches. Letterpress: THE DANCE OF DEATH 1924-1918. ETCHNGS BY PERCY SMITH. ELIZABETH HOUGHTON.
The Dance of Death. 1914-1918. 1921. Portfolio of 7 etchings with drypoint. Sheet: 18 1/2 x 15 1/2. Edition 100. Title page annotated in ink by the artist": "Set No. 36 of 100 proofs only of each plate. Percy Smith." $20,000 the set.
1. Death Forbids. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 (sheet 10 5/16 x 13 3/8). Series: 'The Dance of Death 1914-1918,' #1. Edition 100. Remnants of glassine hinges; otherwise fine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
2. Death Marches. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 7 7/8 x 9 7/8 (sheet 10 5/8 x 13 1/4). Series: 'The Dance of Death 1914-1918,' #2. Edition 100, 36. Remnants of 2 glassine and 2 brown paper hinges; otherwise fine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
3. Death Awed. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 8 x 9 13/16 (sheet 10 1/2 x 14 1/2). Series: 'The Dance of Death 1914-1918,' #3. Edition 100. Illustrated: Print Collector's Quarterly 8 (1921): 324; Illustrated: Lumsden, The Art of Etching; Guichard, British Etchers. Edition 100. Remnants of glassine hinges; otherwise fine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
4. Death Refuses. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 7 7/8 x 9 13/16 (sheet 10 1/2 x 14 1/2). Series: The Dance of Death 1914-1918, #5. Edition 100. Remnants of glassine hinges and page reinforcements; otherwise pristine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
5. Death Waits. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 7 7/8 x 9 3/4 (sheet 10 1/2 x 13 1/8). Series: The Dance of Death 1914-1918, #5. Edition 100. Remnants of glassine hinges; otherwise pristine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr. Printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
6. Death Ponders. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 8 x 9 7/8 (sheet 10 5/8 x 13 1/2). Series: The Dance of Death 1914-1918, #6. Edition 100. Remnants of glassine hinges; otherwise pristine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint bu, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
7. Death Intoxicated. 1921. Etching and drypoint. 7 3/4 x 9 3/4 (sheet 10 1/2 x 13 3/8). Series: The Dance of Death 1914-1918, #7. Edition 100. Remnants of glassine hinges; otherwise pristine condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr. Printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil.
Royal Marine Artillery Camp. The Evening Before the Battle of Messines. 1918. Drypoint. 6 3/8 x 7 7/8 (sheet 9 1/4 x 10 1/2.) Series: Twelve Drypoints of the War 1914-1918. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr, printed on cream wove paper. Signed and titled in pencil. $1,750.
Thiepval Wood. 'Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang'. 1918. Drypoint. 7 7/8 x 6 3/8 (sheet 10 3/4 x 8 3/4.) Series: Twelve Drypoints of the War 1914-1918. Slightmat line; otherwise good condition. A rich impression with velvety drypoint burr, printed on simili-japon paper. Signed and titled in pencil. $2,000.
Jerusalem 1931. Pencil, ink and watercolor. 9 1/4 x 15 (framed 18 1/2 x 24 1/2). Signed and dated in pencil. Housed in a carved gold leaf frame $1,350.
Percy John Delf Smith, RDI( Royal Designer for Industry), was a member of the Royal Society of Arts.
A painter, callingrapher and book designer, he studied in London and exhibited at the R.A. He worked in Palestine (1932)and the United States, During World War I, Lieutenant Smith served with the Royal Marines Artillery in the trenches on the western Front
in France and later in Belgium. He lettered several warship plaques, one in Beccles Town Hall for the Minesweeper 'HMS Brave'.
He established the Dorian (later Dorno) Workshop & Studio, served as a consultant to Heinemann, and specialized in typographic design. He continued to pursue his work as a visual artist alongside his career as typographer and calligrapher. Among his most notable projects was the four year commission for the lettering of the Canadian War Memorial at Vimy Ridge. He was a Fellow or member of several professional societies of artists, as well as of the Society of Calligraphers and the Double Crown Club.
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