Artwork of the Month - March 2012
West Coast of Sark from the Eperquerie
Artist: William Arthur Toplis (1857-1942)
Medium: Watercolour
Status: Permanent collection
Item No.: GMAG 2009.234
Toplis and Sark
The landscape artist William Arthur Toplis fell in love with the island of Sark while on holiday there in the early 1880's. This love was enduring, for in 1883 he moved to the island permanently with his wife.
Toplis was born and trained as an artist in Sheffield but it was the rocks and coastline of Sark which inspired the majority of his work. The rock formations around the coastline fascinated him and in many of his works there is little sky, sea or land, just rock and granite.
In this watercolour however, Toplis has stood back to capture the wider landscape. He intricately describes the details of the Sark coastline bathed under a bright summer sun.
