linocut, 1956

‘This image was based on a memory of a bull being driven down the High Street at Great Bardfield. The street is so simplified here that it is unrecognisable. There used to be a cottage with three dormer windows… I used sand and gravel impressed into the lino surface to produce a gritty texture and gesso (a mix of plaster and of glue) to raise the surface to increase the surface movement in printing… the sort of movement you notice on tarmac as you walk along, marks of dust, tyre tracks or half-obliterated footprints… the feel of muddy detritus in a street.’

Michael Rothenstein (1908 – 1993)

Purchased with assistance from the Essex Heritage Trust