Stephan Whittle 1953-2000 (UK artist) "Highland Glen" (etching) 122/150 (size 10.5cm x 9cm)
Stephan Whittle was born in Leeds, England in 1953. He began etching at Chelsea School of Art, London in 1970 and continued at Brighton College of Art, from which he received an honors degree in fine art in 1975. The next few years were spent in Switzerland and England working as artist, teacher and graphic designer. In 1980 he established his studio near Liverpool and began exhibiting in galleries around Great Britian.
Stephans vision of nature as a place of harmony and balance began to be expressed in his early etchings. From the beginning he utilized his intensely personal sense of color and rhythmic, flowing composition to create remarkable miniature worlds on copper plates.
Throughout the 1980s Stephan worked with major publishers such as London Contemporary Art and CCA Galleries, and his visionary florals and landscape scenes soon gained popularity as far away as Japan, Australia and North America.
In the early 1990s Stephan exhibited at art shows in Tokyo, New York, Paris and Frankfurt. Always in search of a new challenge and broader horizons, Stephan moved his studio to Iowa in 1992 with his wife and two children. His arrival in America inspired brighter colors and larger pieces and he developed a method of embossing designs around the border of the etched images. In 1997, the Whittle family relocated to Sebastopol, CA where Stephan began a series of etchings depicting vineyards and wine related themes. His worked continued to move forward in color and expression, always seeking new methods to capture the vitality and luminosity of his surroundings.
Tragically on July 27, 2000, Stephan lost his life in a swimming accident in Upper Angora Lake, Tahoe while on vacation with his family. His wife, Phillipa, carries on the printing of his work in his studio in California.
Altogether I seek to create both a feast for the senses and an image that will resonate somewhere deep within the soul.
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