Bookplate for St. John Hutchinson

After studying at the University of London's Slade School of Art, Carrington became associated with the Bloomsbury Group. In 1917 she formed a devoted platonic partnership with Lytton Strachey, a bond that survived affairs on both sides as well as Carrington's marriage to Ralph Partridge. Since the artist exhibited rarely, her work was appreciated in her lifetime mostly by friends. Wider attention came late in the 20th century as books and exhibitions revealed her exquisite pastoral landscapes and striking portraits to a wider audience. The artist also produced two dozen small woodcuts and book plates. This example depicts rabbits seated heraldic fashion atop a hutch and punningly refers to St. John Hutchinson, a lawyer married to Strachey's cousin. Both imagery and style demonstrate admiration for English vernacular models and recall William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" and late woodcuts devoted to Virgil's "Georgics."