Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Wingless Chimera, The

  • Artist:

    Cameron, Sir David Young

  • Artist Bio:

    British, 1865–1945

  • Date:

    1911

  • Medium:

    Etching and drypoint

  • Dimensions:

    7 9/16 x 9 5/16 inches

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, L. S. and Ida L. Naftzger Collection of Prints

  • Object Number:

    1943.52

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display


About the Artwork

Sir David Young Cameron

British, 1865–1945

The Wingless Chimera, 1911

Etching and drypoint

Wichita Art Museum, L.S. and Ida L. Naftzger Collection of Prints

1943.52

British artist Cameron visited France in 1910. Among his stops was the city of Amiens. Located about 75 miles north of Paris, Amiens is home to its own majestic cathedral. Cameron—influenced by 19th-century printmakers such as France’s Charles Mйryon—made the gargoyles and grotesques of Amiens his subject. Perched on the edge of the cathedral and leering over the city below, these fantastic creatures are both threatening and protective. Cameron keeps the viewer’s focus on the creatures and not on the city skyline—centrally placed and much darker than the rest of the print, they dominate the composition.