Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood, ARCA, RE (6 April 1900 – June 1977) was a British etcher and engraver, best known for his architectural etchings.

Early life and education Born in Leek, Staffordshire, the son of Jane and Frank Wedgwood, an engineer,Staffordshire baptismal records. Baptised 6 May 1900 at All Saints' Church, Leek. In the 1911 census, his father is listed as a tool-maker in telephone and telegraph instruments. but brought up in Liverpool, Wedgwood attended the Liverpool InstituteLiverpool Daily Post, 10 February 1942, p. 2. and then served with the British Army in the First World War. From 1919 to 1921 he studied at the Liverpool City School of ArtLater Liverpool College of Art. See also Bénézit, Dictionary of British Graphic Artists and Illustrators, p. 546. Winning a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London, he studied engraving there under Sir Frank Short and from 1924 under his successor Malcolm Osborne.See George Worsley Adamson web site. See also Malcolm Osborne: L'Oiseau de Bourges.

He was a Rome scholar at the British School at Rome, having won the Engraving Prize in 1925,Yorkshire Evening Post, 13 July 1925, "Latest News", p. 9. the same year that Edward Irvine Halliday (1902–1984), a fellow Liverpudlian and also a former student at the RCA, won the Painting Prize.See Compton, Ann: Edward Halliday: Art for Life, 1925-1939 (exh. cat. 24 October – 19 December 1997). Liverpool: University of Liverpool Art Gallery, , , p. 18. According to Edward Morris, writing in the Connoisseur, Wedgwood "reverted to architectural subjects; his line became harder and more precise; his effects clearer and sharper; less of his work was etched, more engraved; some of the credit for these effects must go to the printer, David Strang".See Connoisseur, vol. 180, no. 725, July 1972, p. 239. See William Strang's portrait of his son David on the William Strang page.

"In Wedgwood's architectural etchings", wrote Guichard, "the severity of the formal harmonies of square and rectangle in the roofs and walls of old buildings is relieved by gentle caricature in the small local figures that inhabit the scenes and are sympathetically observed."Guichard, Kenneth M. (1977), p. 66.

Career He later taught at the Liverpool Institute from 1932 to 1935 and at the Liverpool City School of Art from 1935 until his retirement in 1960.See also Morris, Edward (1972). Among Wedgwood's students was George Adamson, RE, See George Worsley Adamson web site. .

He also worked as an illustrator. His etchings for menus were shown at the L.N.E.R. exhibition of poster art at Burlington Galleries in 1933.The Times, 16 March 1933, p. 12, stated they "should not be overlooked". Among various projects for Martins Bank advertising in the early 1950s, he was commissioned together with J. C. Armitage (Ionicus) and F. G. Lodge, to do drawings of English stately homes.See Martins Bank Magazine, Spring 1951.

Published works Not complete Roberts, Gruffydd Dewi (1935), The House that was forgotten, illus. by Geoffrey Wedgwood. London: Lovat Dickson & Thompson Limited Roberts, Gruffydd Dewi (1937), Heron's Island, illus. by Geoffrey Wedgwood. London: Dent "Geoffrey Wedgwood's drawings brilliantly interpret the author's charming fantasy." Scotsman, 9 December 1937.

Awards and honours Winner of the Engraving Prize (1925) to be a scholar at the British School at Rome with two works: Negro Dentist and St Pancras WashhouseThese were done in the "satirical genre style of Nixon and William Strang". See Connoisseur, vol. 180, no. 725, July 1972, p. 239. Elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1925"That year saw the election of one of the finest provincial engravers, Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood," wrote Martin Hopkinson (Hopkinson, Martin ). and a fellow in 1934.Now the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. Elected associate member of the Royal Cambrian Academy in 1942 and a full member in 1943. Wedgwood resigned his membership in 1958.Royal Cambrian Academy members.

Exhibitions Junior Workers' Guild exhibition, Mansard Gallery, London, 1925 Art Institute of Chicago: "International Exhibition of Contemporary Prints: A Century of Progress" 1 June to 1 November 1934: Outside the Walls engraving by Geoffrey Wedgwood exhibited (no. 136) Bluecoat Chambers, School Lane, Liverpool, 1932: "Prints and Drawings by Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood" Sandon Music Room, Bluecoat Chambers, School Lane, Liverpool, 1944: "Pictures by Four Artists: N. Martin Bell; Edgar Grosvenor; Charles W. Sharpe; Geoffrey H. Wedgwood"Liverpool Daily Post, 28 October 1944. Bluecoat Chambers, School Lane, Liverpool, 1946: "Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Prints by Martin Bell, Edgar Grosvenor, Charles W. Sharpe, William L. Stevenson and Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood" Contemporary British Prints and Drawings from the Wakefield Collection British Council touring exhibition, 1947–1950. An exhibition of prints and drawings from the Wakefield Collection selected by James Laver Royal Academy (for example The Borghese Gardens, Rome, exhibited in the summer of 1929) New English Art Club Fine Art Society, New Bond Street, LondonScotsman, 1 April 1932, p. 12: "Geoffrey Wedgwood's prints are always charming and crowded in amusing detail. There is a prim decorative quality about his use of line that distinguishes him from the ordinary run of architectural etchers in the Muirhead Bone tradition. . . . Behind his work there lies, one feels, a shy, droll, intelligent personality." Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool: "Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood", 2 February – 4 March 1972In his review of the exhibition Edward Morris wrote: "Wedgwood was one of the first pupils to be able to study engraving alone for his diploma [at the RCA] and he profited from the vigorous manner of Job Nixon [1891–1938] rather than from the more refined, delicate approach of the Professor, Sir Frank Short." Connoisseur, vol. 180, no. 725, July 1972, p. 239. In his preface to the exhibition catalogue, Timothy Stevens, the director of the Walker Art Gallery, wrote that the exhibition was to commemorate the gift to the gallery of a group of Wedgwood's work in 1970.

Works in public collections Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago: Old Aldgate, n.d. British Museum, London: Porta Capriana, Naples, 1931 (image not shown online) British Council Collection: St Peter's, Genoa, line engraving, 1927, accession no. P2479 Davison Art Center, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT: Old Aldgate , drypoint, 1924, accession no. 1937.D1.41 Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis: S.S. Giovanni e Paolo, Rome, 1926, accession no. WU 3719 Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco: Works by Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis: Pincian Gardens, Rome, 1930 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Borghese Gardens, Rome, 1928, and The Fishmarket, Naples, 1929 (both etching and drypoint) National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne: The fishmarket, Naples, 1929, drypoint; Street scene, 1931, drypoint; University Art Gallery, Pittsburgh: The Capitol, Rome, accession no. 72.1.16 University of Liverpool: several itemsUniversity of Liverpool (1977). Victoria and Albert Museum: St Peter's, Genoa, accession no. E.859-1959

References

Further reading Guichard, Kenneth M. (1977, 2nd ed. 1981), British Etchers 1850–1940. London: Robin Garton Hopkinson, Martin (1999). No Day without a Line. The History of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, 1880–1999. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum hardback paperback Laver, J. "The Etchings of Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood", Bookman's Journal, XII, p. 231, 1925 Morris, Edward (1972), An Exhibition of the Works of Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood (exh. cat., Walker Art Gallery, 2 February – 4 March 1972). Liverpool: National Museums & Galleries on Merseyside University of Liverpool (1977): The work of Geoffrey Heath Wedgwood from the collection of the University of Liverpool (exh. cat. with introduction by Andrew W. Moore). Liverpool: University of Liverpool and