Ernest Stephen Lumsden, 1883-1948

A native of London, Lumsden went to the Académie Julian in Paris in 1913, and studied Velázquez in Madrid the following year. In 1905 he taught himself to etch from Lalanne's Treatise on Etching, as did McBey, and in 1907 two of his etchings were hung in the Paris Salon. Lumsden taught at Edinburgh College of Art from 1908 until 1912. The author of The Art of Etching, he was a life-long advocate of the importance of etching, and his influence can be felt to this day.
Lumsden travelled widely, and during is war service lived in India from 1917 to 1919. His three sets of Indian prints, with their fine composition and use of line, were his highest achievement. In 1927 he moved to Raeburn's studio in Edinburgh, where he painted, taught, wrote and etched until his death. He became President of the Society of Artist Printmaker in Edinburgh in 1929.