Dream Scaffold
- Artist: Julian Trevelyan
- Date: 1936–71
- Medium: Gouache and intaglio print on paper
- Dimensions: support: 203 x 352 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “Dream Scaffold” by Julian Trevelyan. Created between 1936 and 1971, it’s a small gouache and intaglio print on paper, only about 203 by 352 mm, so you can really focus on the fine lines and washes. The image blends abstraction with recognisable elements—a scaffold arching over a faint townscape, hinting at a bridge or viaduct. Trevelyan mixes figure and architecture, using the scaffold as a frame for a fleeting dreamlike scene. The gouache provides soft washes that contrast with the crisp, engraved lines of the intaglio. It feels like a moment caught between planning and imagination, a visual pause on a construction site where people and structure meet. The work was presented by Waddington Galleries through the Institute of Contemporary Prints in 1975, and it now resides in Tate Britain’s Archive Gallery: Artists International. It’s a lovely example of mid‑century British printmaking that invites you to think about the spaces we build and the dreams they carry.
See it in person
Dream Scaffold is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
