La Valse (The Waltz)

Letterio Calapai

"La Valse" translates into English as "The Waltz". Three pairs of dancers, each encapsulted in their own space move to the rythmn of the music, over a floor created by patterned soft-ground fabrics and aquatint. A touch of yellow color adds movement to the overall composition. The figures are engraved with flowing, yet precise lines.

Letterio Calapai worked almost exclusively as a woodengraver between 1934 and 1947, when he met Stanley William Hayter who suggested his line might translate well to metal engraving. Calapai realized that, despite being in his forties he needed direction and went to work at Hayter's experimental workshop Atelier 17 in New York.

At the atelier he learned to use new tools and materials and his easy facility with them can be found in "La Valse"which Alfred Maurice commented "...show a command of the engraved line rivalling that of Hayter himself. Calapai went on to gain equal mastery of the intaglio processes of etching, drypoint, aquatint, and collagraphy..."