Sea and Rain

Sea and Rain is one of the most highly regarded of McBey’s many depictions of the coastal region of northeastern Scotland, where he grew up. He became one of the master etchers of the twentieth century despite having no formal artistic training. He began experimenting with etching while working as a bank clerk, and produced his first etchings using plumbing copper and a laundry wringer. He subsequently constructed a press out of an old propeller shaft. During a trip to Holland, he discovered a book that had been owned by Rembrandt and that was full of seventeenth-century paper (which McBey could appreciate from his years managing the bank’s stationery and paper supply department). From that time he, like the etchers Buhot and Whistler, meticulously selected sheets of antique paper for his impressions. Ironically, older materials best captured McBey’s modern subjects. As he noted, "the skin of old paper has become soft and velvety due to the action of time … Old paper picks up the ink better than modern, much less ink being left on the plate."