A Passion for Prints: A Sheffield Collection

This display tells the story of a father and son from Sheffield whose passion for prints led them to develop an outstanding collection, including works by Jacques Callot, Edouard Manet, Odilon Redon, Rembrandt and more.

The story begins with a young man from Darnall who, at the outbreak of the First World War, joined Thomas Firth & Sons steelworks before enlisting as a soldier aged eighteen. After being severely injured fighting on the frontline, he returned to Sheffield where his interest and initiative led him to spend his entire war pension on a group of French prints. From this point on he saved shrewdly, using money earned as a market stall holder to grow his collection.

Over the following decades the collector sent away for catalogues, made regular visits to London and bargained with dealers to buy carefully selected prints. Later in life he was accompanied by his son, who juggled shifts at the steelworks with time spent studying and buying prints with his father. This sparked a lifelong passion for prints and the son continues to refine and develop the collection to this day.

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This display is part of a five-year programme of change and redisplay at the Graves Gallery generously supported by the Ampersand Foundation.