Palimpsest

Stanley William Hayter

"Palimpsest" was done in three states on a zinc plate: the first was with applied sugar-lift and soft ground, then soft ground texture in 1945; the second state had the textures rebitten in March of 1946; the third added 3 silkscreens and used the scorper to achieve the three dimensional elements. There were color trial proofs numbered 1 - 5.

The printing record reads: "intaglio black, green silkscreen on to plate; cadmium orange silkscreen on to plate; red-violet silkscreen on to plate. Impressions may vary from impression to impression. The edition was printed on both Kochi and Cranach paper, this impression on Kochi.

A 'palimpsest' is a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain. Hayter builds layers of lines, colors, textures, and shapes overlapping each other; a dimensional white line, gouged out with a scorper, creates an abstracted figure on the surface of the colors.