Fiona

Cathal Brendan O'Toole

Irish born Cathal O'Toole moved to the US in 1925 and studied printmaking at the Art Students League. In 1934 he spent three years studying in Europe on a Pulitzer award and spent time studying with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris where printmakers from around the world assembled and were doing experimental work.

"Fiona", done in 1939, right before Atelier 17 moved from Paris to the United States, is the result of working with a number of experimental intaglio techniques such as soft-ground etching, engraving, etching, aquatint and a plate that was cut into an irregular shape.

O'Toole, who had worked in America before his trip signed this impression indicating his membership in two art organizations: A.N.A (Associate of the National Academy) and S.A.E. (Association of American Etchers). He discusses this plate in an article titled "While There's Copper There's Hope" in the magazine American Artist, June 1942, Vol. 6 Issue 6, page 24.

Though Atelier 17 was founded to explore primarily engraving, these innovations carried over to the work that printmakers were doing at the Atelier in New York in the 1940s.