Hastings

Art Historical Context

James McBey’s 1925 etching *Hastings* captures a quiet moment along the English coast, rendered with the precision and atmospheric sensitivity that defined the Scottish artist’s work. McBey, a leading figure in the early twentieth-century etching revival, often drew inspiration from British landscapes and harbor scenes. Created just a few years after the First World War, this print reflects a broader cultural turn toward intimate, restorative views of the British Isles. Executed as an etching, the medium allowed McBey to achieve fine tonal gradations and delicate line work that evoke the play of light on water and the texture of weathered buildings. The modest sheet size—roughly 9 by 14 inches—invites close viewing, rewarding the observer with subtle details that reward repeated looking. Now part of the Rosenwald Collection at the National Gallery of Art, the print exemplifies how artists of McBey’s generation used traditional printmaking to preserve a sense of place for modern audiences.

About the Artist

James McBey · 1883–1959

James McBey (1883–1959) was a Scottish artist renowned for his etchings and paintings, emerging from humble beginnings in Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, as the illegitimate son of a blacksmith's daughter. Largely self-taught, he left school at fifteen to work as a bank clerk in Aberdeen, where he devoured art books from the public library and attended evening classes at Gray's School of Art to hone his ...