Night Moth (Laurels Number One)

 

Stanley William Hayter

  1901 - 1988 (biography)

1946  

color zinc plate aquatint, engraving, soft-ground etching and scorper; 2 silkscreens 

5 7/8 x 4 7/16" platemark 

lower right margin pencil 

trial proof aside from edition of 300 plus various other proofs. 

annotated "Trial Print” and an unknown symbol (date??) to the right of the signature. 

B/M 171 (ill. in color in color trial state) 

Koichi laid paper with hammer and anvil watermark 

first color trial proof 

Laurels Number One (N.Y., May 1947; tipped in) for the editioned print 

24220 

$2,500.00 

This impression is the first Trial Proof Hayter did while testing color combinations. "Night Moth" was printed from a zinc in 3 states using aquatint, engraving, soft-ground etching and scorper, and then two silkscreens to add color. The first state was the aquatint, one proof was pulled; the second state added engraving and soft-ground texture, also printed in a single proof. The third state added the scorper and the orange and purple silkscreens printed to the zinc plate and offset to the image. The edition of 300 impressions was printed at Atelier 17 and published in May of 1947 in the publication "Laurels Number One" by the Laurel Gallery, New York on Koichi paper. It was glued to the page at the top corners.