2016/2

The Rake Makers,

Stanley Anderson (Artist)

Unframed engraving by Stanley Anderson RA (1884-1966), titled ‘The Rake Makers’. Produced in 1948, the print is an edition of 65. Signed in pencil “Ed: 65 Stanley Anderson”. The print shows a rake maker’s firm at work. The firm is identified as Ernest Sims of Pamber End, Hampshire. The rake maker in the foreground is boring a hole into a rake head with a brace and bit. The rake head is likely made from willow; it has a row of tines. He is using a brace and fixed bit to drill the rake head on a table which appears to be steadied by his foot. A tining horse (or driving stool) can be seen to the right: wooden sticks are driven through an iron tine former which splices off the excess. Rakes like these would be used to turn hay and for levelling surfaces. The rake maker is depicted at work in a busy courtyard; the scene is full of stacked logs, leaning rake handles and wood shavings on the floor. A number of agricultural hand tools can be seen in the print, including a mallet, knife and axe. Anderson has printed a line of text below the image; it reads “A mind content both crown and kingdom is. Greene”. The quote is taken from English poet Robert Greene’s verse ‘Maesia's Song’. Greene was active in the 16th century. Anderson’s monogram featuring the initials “SA” within a triangle is engraved within the plate. The Museum holds a number of rakes, rake parts, handles, and tools purchased from the Ernest Sims firm in the early 1980s. This includes 53/93/1-2 and 83/2/1-10. This engraving is part of Anderson’s ‘English Country Crafts’ series (1933-1953), for which he is best known. The series features workers and craftspeople of traditional farming and handiwork practices. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Anderson gave up his studio in London and went to live in the small village of Towersey, not far from Thame on the Eastern boundary of Oxfordshire. It was here that Anderson knew and befriended many of the subjects who appear in the ‘English Country Crafts’ series. Although acquired in 2016, the museum first exhibited a print of ‘The Rake Makers’ in the 1958 exhibition ‘The Craftsmen and his Tools’. This was a different individual print from within the same edition of 65. At the time, it was borrowed directly from the artist. In the 1958 exhibition, Anderson’s engravings were displayed alongside a loan of agricultural hand tools from the R.A. Salaman collection. The print was purchased with the support of the Art Fund.

1 unframed print, produced by line engraving. Paper and ink.

Thame

1948 - 1948

Paper, Ink