The Return of Big Tone

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

The Return of Big Tone is an etching made by Antony Davies during his move from Northern Ireland to Belfast, where he took up a teaching post. Davies’ attention was drawn to the Troubles in Northern Ireland during the 1981 hunger strikes at the Maze Prison. Davies felt it was ‘a matter of personal integrity’ to bear witness to what was happening there. Consequently, he took up a teaching post in Belfast and moved his print studio from South Wales to the commercial heart of the city, an area which was fenced off at night from the rest of the country due to frequent nighttime bombings and violence.
This print is one of many that Davies made during that time in order to document the scenes happening on the streets of Belfast. Rather than focusing on any one particular event, this print, like his many others, offers a sense of the chaos, violence and fear of those times that ran alongside scenes of everyday life. Davies has remarked on how, as the Troubles ran their course, his impressions were that rather than the violence stemming from religious differences, ‘it was really about intimidation and fear’ and also ‘to do with youth – a lot of the crime was committed by these young hotheads, earning their stripes for the local political affiliations’.  Davies has a long standing interest in youth culture, particularly in connection with music, which has resonated in his practice over many years.

Anthony Davies was born in Hampshire in 1947. He studied at the Winchester School of Art before going on to the Royal College of Art and then the British School in Rome, where he was awarded the Prix de Rome. Davies has exhibited his work widely in the UK and overseas, representing Britain at numerous international print biennials, winning prizes at several. He lived in Belfast between 1983 and 1986, during which time he taught printmaking at the University of Ulster. Davies was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painters and Etchers in 1994. He currently lives in New Zealand and is based in Aramoho, Wanganui at Hotspur Studios, which he founded in 2002.

Places

Subjects

skull, man, woman, mask, top hat, fan, tattoo

Materials & Techniques

etching

Artist

Anthony Davies (1947 - )

Title

The Return of Big Tone

Portfolio Title

35 Artists Printmaking, Folio 2

Edition

33/50

Date

1982

Medium

Etching

Acquisition

Purchased from the Royal College of Art, August 1985

Inscription

below image: 33/50 / A davies '82

GAC number

16388/C