Night Riders

 

Ian Hugo

  1898 - 1985 (biography)

1941  

engraving and soft-ground etching 

5 x 4 7/8" platemark 

pencil, lower right 

3/XXX 

titled in pencil in lower margin and dated after the signature 

 

cream wove 

published 

artist 

19358 

$400.00 

Hugo constantly experimented with this surreal image and Night Riders evolved through numerous state changes within a limited edition of thirty. The plate was created using both engraving for sharp lines and soft ground etching, with fabrics and papers pushed into the soft ground to create the tones and textures. Hugo provided surreal images for many of Anais Nin's publications, which they self-published. For Nin, Hugo’s unwavering love and financial support were indispensable; he was "the fixed center, core...my home, my refuge" (Sept. 16, 1937, Nearer the Moon, The Unexpurgated Diary of Anais Nin, 1937-1939). A fictionalized portrait of Hugo appears in Philip Kaufman's 1990 film, Henry & June.