Circle - Violet and Yellow (Beige to Purple, Black Center)

Michael Rothenstein

Rothenstein used two plywood blocks, printed in gray (top) and blue (bottom), circle of linocut / hardboard rings - beige, dark yellow, lighr brown, purple - inner purple ring showing wood grain, black centre hub cap, halation from double deck printing around outer edge, additional dark green strip dividing main sections. (Sidey, page 142, #182).

Tessa Sidey notes about the "Circle Series" on page 142 of the catalogue raisonné:

"This series with its prodigious variations was the main preoccupation of Rothenstein between 1968 and 1970. Its ancient association had already been the concern of the mixed media "Two Circle Series" of 1965-66. Now colour and specifically the emotional response to colour relationships came into its own.

Working in the first instance with a combination of relief surfaces, the final sequence of prints, printed with the assistance of Shelley Rose, heralded the move toward photography and screenprinting...."