[From the catalogue-in-progress for “Landscapes & Livestock”, a loan exhibition for Agincourt Homecoming in the Fall of 2015]

FITTON, Hedley [1859–1929]

“The Two Mills”

date unknown / ca1920

etching / 11 inches x 7 3/4 inches

Roughly contemporary with Frank Brangwyn, Fitton was drawn to similar architectonic subjects, though with less chiaroscuro. Still, this treatment of an ancient windmill compares favorably with those of Brangwyn in Heyter Preston’s book of 1923, which Fitton probably knew. Representing the pre-industrial era, windmills were an endangered species rapidly disappearing from the industrial landscape.

This etching came to the Community Collection in a very undramatic and obtuse way: it was purchased from a flea market event in 2005 to raise money for hurricane Katrina relief.