Canturbury

William Ross Cameron

American artist William Ross Cameron traveled to Europe following graduation from the California School of Fine Arts, studying in Paris and London. The influence of early European printmakers is evidenced in this near-aerial, flattened perspective view of historic Cantebury, England. He employs simplified lines with little to no variance in thickness, in the manner of 15th century German engravers, and has added only one color: aqua blue, highlighting the sky, the River Stour, and the trees that nestle between buildings.

His style would evolve to be more akin to that of California Arts and Crafts artists of the 1920s and ‘30s, and it differs greatly from his realist watercolors. However, the charm of the old city he likely traveled through on his European tour is captured perfectly in a style that echoes its own history.