Stokesay Castle 1942

This is John Taylor Arms' Stokesay Castle, made in 1942. It's an etching, and it feels precise, but when you look closely, you see all these little, tiny marks. I imagine Arms bent over the plate, carefully layering line upon line, creating this sense of depth and texture. I feel the artist’s deep interest in the castle’s surfaces and the way light falls across the stones. You can feel his sense of wonder at the architecture. Did he approach his work like a mason building a wall? I like to think about the physicality of the process. The scene feels tranquil and timeless but the war was raging when it was made. So, did Arms seek solace in this image of a solid, historic structure? Maybe he hoped to celebrate the enduring beauty of the world, even as it was being threatened. Etching has a long history. Artists have been using it to capture the world around them for centuries, and Arms is part of that conversation, adding his own voice and vision to the mix.