by Malcolm Osborne
drypoint, 1921
NPG D41991
by Malcolm Osborne
drypoint, late 1930s
NPG D36744
Dudley Gladstone Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair
by Malcolm Osborne
drypoint, 1943 or after
NPG D16853
by Malcolm Osborne
drypoint etching, 1950
NPG D8171
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.
Stephen Govier
30 September 2020, 17:25
Malcolm Osborne [1880-1963] was born on the 1st August 1880 at Frome, Somerset to Alfred Arthur Osborne [1847-1910] who was a schoolmaster and his wife Sarah Elizabeth Biggs [1843-1907]. Malcolm was educated at the Merchant Venturers Technical College in Bristol, before his move to Streatham in circa 1900 to live with his elder brother Harold. From 1901-1906 he was a pupil of the renowned etcher and engraver Frank Short [1857-1945] at South Kensington along with William Lethaby [1857-1931], Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art. It has also been stated that he studied art at the Queen's School of Art in Bristol [Grant Waters]. When Frank Short retired from the RCA in 1924, Malcolm Osborne suceeded him as the head of the Engraving School. He produced over 100 original etchings and dry-points of landscapes and townscapes along with a number of portraits which he was particularly renowned for. Like Frank Short he worked in the same traditional manner as Rembrant and we can see his infuence in Osborne's and Short's work. Osborne produced a superb portrait of Mrs Heberden [1923] which shows the influence of Rembrant. He also produced a portrait of Sir Frank Short with a printing press in the background and engraving plate and engraver to hand. Frank Short mostly produced landscapes working directly on the copperplate from nature. Osborne was renowned as an excellent teacher and technically very good at getting the best out of wiping and printing a copperplate especially for his students. Malcolm worked with Robert Austin [1895-1973] the watercolourist and etcher and engraver of animal and figurative subjects. Austin was also a pupil of Frank Short and from 1927-1944 taught etching at the RCA. A book of Osborne's etchings was edited by Malcolm Salaman [1855-1940] as part of the 'Modern Master's in Etching'series. Malcolm lived in London and exhibited his work at the RA and RE and leading galleries in London. He was married in 1927 to Amy Margaret Stableford [1884-1964] and died at 44 Redcliffe Gardens, Kensington. In 1948 he was created a CBE. James Henry Govier [1910-1974] the painter, etcher, engraver was the etching demonstrator at the Royal College of Art 1939-1940.