Crepuscule

Stanley William Hayter

"Crépuscule" was done in 1966, published by Editions Schwartz, Rome. The Black and Moorhead raisonné, number 302, indicates that there were two states, the first done with soft-ground texture, lines drawn with varnish and a deep bite. There was a single proof.

The second state added scorper. There were a number of color proofs printed on November 26 using intaglio alkali blue, hard roller red, and soft roller phtalo green. One of these proofs is illustrated in the raisonné. The editioned proofs, such as this, appear to not have the hard roller red printing, just the blue and green. B/M does not list the edition size but this impression indicates an edition of 100.

As Hayter aged his colors got brighter and more electric, even fluorescent, and moved in crisscrossing, rhythmic movements. He utilized all the simultaneous printing methods that the printmakers at Atelier 17 had developed in the previous 30 years.

In the mid-sixties Hayter began experimenting with more optical imagery. Cataloguer Peter Black comments on this work on page 44 of 'The Prints of Stanley William Hayter':..."the rhythmic linear prints of 1965 onwards focus on structure rather than substance, and convey an impression of the subject continuing through time rather than frozen for an instant. They consist, usually, of two interfering series of curving lines, tracing the patterns of surface waves..."