Ruth Pejcic chose...

two prints showing canals

There are two reasons why I chose these prints. Initially, I was drawn to them because they depict canals. My partner lives on a narrow boat and I have spent many a happy hour travelling at a snail’s pace through the Warwickshire countryside. For many people who live in houses, narrow boats and life on the water can seem like a faraway world. This is not the case however, in the past canals were built to run through all of the main industrial towns and played a very important role in everybody’s life.

My other reason for choosing these prints is because I am an artist myself and I have often created images using print. Print can offer a very dramatic, linear interpretation of an image, and I think it lends itself well to the subject of canals.

Ruth Pejcic is a volunteer with the Herbert's Collections team

What the curator says:

Entrance to Sapperton Canal Tunnel  
British School, c 1800 collected in 1974

Sapperton canal tunnel near Cirencester in Gloucestershire was the longest tunnel in the world when it was built in 1789. It still has the grand entrance shown in this view. This is an aquatint - an inked copper or zinc engraved plate is passed through a printing press to make the paper print.

Nant-y-Glo, Monmouthshire
By Henry Gastineau, 1829 - 1831, collected in 1974

In the 1800s Nant-y-Glo was one of the most important iron producing areas in the world. This engraving shows the sheer scale of the impact of the industrial revolution on the Welsh landscape.