Au Fond

Richard Royce

In Richard Royce’s “Au Fond” - translating loosely to “in the background” - perhaps a shipwreck resting on the ocean floor, looming like a warning, while just beyond it the bright bodies of fish swim past. His style is free and experimental, a direct tie to his time at Atelier 17, and his use of texture and color to suggest depth makes the composition appear to be shifting and moody, drawing the viewer into the underwater scene. Royce studied at Stanley William Hayter’s famed experimental workshop in the early 1960s after it had been reestablished in Paris. The printmakers at Atelier 17 discovered and developed the method of color intaglio printing Hayter called "simultaneous color printing" but has come to be known as "viscosity printing", this being a fine example of the technique.

Au Fond is a result of that two-year immersion in printmaking at Atelier 17 in Paris where the groundbreaking advances in simultaneous color printing were established. This image was done in 1967 the year he returned to the United States. Royce’s imagery is as evasive as his title but it seems that he is delving into the subconscious where reality is altered.

Richard Benjamin Royce, printmaker and classical guitarist, was born in New York on August 18, 1941. He attended Forest Hills High School before enrolling at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he studied sculpture and printmaking. Royce earned his MFA degree in printmaking under Alfred Sessler and was the studio assistant to Warrington Colescott. He graduated with the class of 1965 and then went to Paris where he studied for two years at Stanley W. Hayter’s Atelier 17.

On returning to the United States, Royce taught printmaking at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles between 1967 and 1969. After he asked to assist with Roy Lichtenstein’s first woodcut at Gemini GEL, Royce opened his own studio in Santa Monica. He was director and master printer at Atelier Royce for twenty-five years. He produced etchings, cast paper, paintings and sculptural commissions of his own work while at the same time helping artists to realize works in various media. Atelier Royce printed for hundreds of artists including Roy Lichtenstein, Larry Rivers, Marisol, George Segal, Raphael Soyer, Francoise Gilot, James Rosenquist, Paul Jenkins, and Hamaguchi.

Richard Royce is also an accomplished classical guitarist, specializing in Flamenco learned from Aaron Gilmartin as well as classical artist Jose Barossa, Blues artist Joe Mack, and Jazz artist Freddy Kaya.