Chest Patterns II: No. 17 from "The Nude Man"

Beth Van Hoesen

In selecting the project of doing a portfolio of etchings, using the nude figure of the opposite sex as a theme, Beth Van Hoesen was one of a few women artists willing to take on the challenge (much to her father's chagrin).

Van Hoesen’s subjects are not always the classic virile strong men either, but instead are of varying proportions, age and race. They are not sexualized - just matter-of-fact physiques Richard Lorenz describes as “unheroic and posed in decidedly non-classical postures.” She enlisted her friends to pose. The project was done in collaboration with her friend and printer/publisher Kathan Brown who had opened her Crown Point Press in 1962 and began publishing in 1965, the year this was done.

This image is number 17 from a series of 25 images of nude men done by Beth Van Hoesen in 1965, published by Crown Point Press, Berkeley, California printed there by Kathan Brown 1965. The paper is folded at the left margin to create a portfolio.

The total edition was 50, 25 of which were bound and another 25 were issued as boxed portfolios. Provenance: From the collection of Los Angeles dealer Felix Landau.