Dusk Brocade

Dorr Bothwell

An early color screenprint (1954) by Dorr Bothwell, a glimpse of the natural world, perhaps trees reflecting in a fall pond or stream at dusk. The black shadows dance on the top of the warm colors in the background, Bothwell has created a shimmering pattern, undefined and abstract, but familiar none the less.

Dusk Brocade is an alluring abstraction, it reads as a landscape while having a textural quality much like a woven textile. Dorr Bothwell was self-taught in this medium and she stated: “So here I am, practically self-taught–certainly I taught myself serigraphy. I was on the cutting edge. At one point I was the only woman in Northern California doing this. This fits with myself in being an innovative person. Maybe artistically I’m not that hot–I believe that –but I’ve brought things along. And I’m still trying to learn, still trying to show the beauty and design underlying all.”