Rowel Friars, Fair Day 67/100, 1982, Paper, Framed

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Packed with humorous character studies and rural vignettes, this monochrome print captures the energetic commotion of a village livestock and … Read more Packed with humorous character studies and rural vignettes, this monochrome print captures the energetic commotion of a village livestock and produce market. In the immediate foreground, trading unfolds across a crowded produce stall laden with cabbages, root vegetables, fruit, and counterbalanced scales, while heavily clad farmers bargain, converse, and smoke clay pipes around a pair of working cart horses. Beyond them, pens of livestock stretch up the rising ground towards terraced village buildings, shops, and a distant church tower set against rolling hills. The composition reveals Friars' distinctive graphic draughtsmanship, using dense line work, cross-hatching, and stippling to populate the scene with lively local types. Figures wearing cloth caps, bowler hats, and heavy woollen jackets barter over cattle, inspect pigs crammed into a pen, or gather near an open-air tent stall. Subtle genre elements add narrative charm throughout, from an itinerant fiddle player performing among the crowd to shop frontages bearing regional trade names such as Lynch and M. O'Hara, creating an atmospheric depiction of traditional country commerce. The piece is inscribed below the image in pencil, bearing the handwritten title 'Fair Day' to the lower left margin. Across the lower right, it is numbered 67 from an edition of 100, alongside a personal dedication reading 'with Compliment' and the artist's cursive signature dated 1982. The print is presented within an ivory-toned mount and a black wooden moulding with a delicate gilt inner fillet, backed with hardboard and fitted with hanging rings for wall display. A small original gallery label from the Old London Galleries of the Royal Opera Arcade in Pall Mall remains affixed to the backing board. In its glazed frame, the work measures 48 cm in height and 67 cm in width. The print surface retains crisp graphic contrast and clean margins, making it a substantial and engaging centrepiece for collectors of twentieth-century graphic illustration. See less