Fine Art Poster
From £37
A giclée print on 200gsm matte fine art paper, using a twelve-colour process for accurate, fade-resistant colour. Supplied unframed, delivered flat or rolled.
Composition - Crank and Chain - Edward Wadsworth
Regular price
£37.00 GBP
Sale price
£37.00 GBP
Regular price
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
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Made to order
Description
A precise, machine-age composition by Edward Wadsworth, featuring abstract mechanical forms rendered in a muted, industrial palette.
Edward Wadsworth, a key figure in the British avant-garde, produced this work during a period when his aesthetic shifted towards a precise, machine-age clarity. Following his earlier involvement with Vorticism, Wadsworth began to explore the formal qualities of industrial components. In this composition, he isolates mechanical elements, specifically the crank and chain, stripping them of their functional context to focus on their geometric potential.
The image presents a controlled arrangement of shapes against a dark, atmospheric ground. The undulating forms of the chains contrast with the solid, rounded silhouettes of the mechanical parts. Wadsworth employs a limited palette, relying on shades of grey, black, and off-white to define the volume and metallic sheen of the objects. The application of tempera allows for a matte, smooth finish that emphasises the clarity of the lines and the flatness of the pictorial space.
This work reflects the artist's fascination with the aesthetics of the industrial world. By reducing complex machinery to abstract components, Wadsworth invites the viewer to consider the visual rhythm of manufactured objects. The composition avoids unnecessary detail, favouring a clean, deliberate structure that aligns with the broader European interest in mechanical abstraction during the early 1920s. The interplay between the rigid, repetitive nature of the chain links and the larger, more organic shapes creates a sense of balance within the frame. It is a study in form and texture, demonstrating the artist's ability to transform mundane industrial hardware into a coherent, modern visual statement.
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Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Complete The Look
Composition - Crank and Chain - Edward Wadsworth
Regular price
From £37.00 GBP
Sale price
From £37.00 GBP
Regular price
Fine Art Poster / Small Square (30x30 cm) / -
Artist Biography
Edward Wadsworth
Edward Wadsworth's most consequential act as an artist may have been bureaucratic rather than painterly. In 1917, as a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, he oversaw the transfer of dazzle camouflage designs to hundreds of Allied ships, an industrial-scale deployment of abstract pattern intended to confuse submarine commanders about a vessel's speed and heading. The project placed his Vorticist training directly in service of the war effort, and the paintings he made from it, including Dazzle-ships in Drydock at Liverpool (1919), stand among the most striking documents of that strange overlap between modernism and military necessity.
Born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire, in 1889, Wadsworth studied engineering before switching to art, spending time in Munich and then winning a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art in London. By 1914 he was a signatory of the Vorticist Manifesto and a contributor to BLAST, the movement's combative journal. His pre-war work shared Vorticism's love of hard angles and mechanical force, applied to the industrial landscapes of the Black Country where he grew up.
After the war he moved away from abstraction, adopting tempera as his primary medium and concentrating on coastal still lifes: rope, anchors, shells, and nautical equipment arranged against flat backgrounds or grey sea horizons. The shift aligned him with a broader European return to representational order, and these later compositions earned him election as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1943. He died in Bayswater in June 1949, having moved through nearly every major mode of British modernism without fully belonging to any of them.
Born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire, in 1889, Wadsworth studied engineering before switching to art, spending time in Munich and then winning a scholarship to the Slade School of Fine Art in London. By 1914 he was a signatory of the Vorticist Manifesto and a contributor to BLAST, the movement's combative journal. His pre-war work shared Vorticism's love of hard angles and mechanical force, applied to the industrial landscapes of the Black Country where he grew up.
After the war he moved away from abstraction, adopting tempera as his primary medium and concentrating on coastal still lifes: rope, anchors, shells, and nautical equipment arranged against flat backgrounds or grey sea horizons. The shift aligned him with a broader European return to representational order, and these later compositions earned him election as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1943. He died in Bayswater in June 1949, having moved through nearly every major mode of British modernism without fully belonging to any of them.
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Fine Art Framed
From £59
The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
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