Cain and Abel

 

Bernard Brussel-Smith

  1914 - 1989 (biography)

c. 1957 -'58 

engraving, soft-ground etching, and scorper with color stencils 

19 3/16 x 11 13/16" platemark 

estate-stamped signature, lower right margin 

color variant proof 

included in the stamp: "PBS", for Peter Brussel-Smith, executor of the estate 

Proofs listed on p. 34, "Greater Than 17: the Art and Influence of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17", exhibition catalogue, 2021; National Academy of Design, state proof, accession no. 1982.2450 

smooth ivory wove 

proof 

artist 

24454 

$1,000.00 

A rare color variant proof from Brussel-Smith's time at Atelier 17 in New York, from 1957 to 1958. Other impressions of "Cain and Abel", including one state proof and a color variant proof, were included in the 2021 exhibition Greater than 17: the Art and Influence of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17, with works from the collection of Tyrus Clutter mounted at Webber Gallery, College of Central Florida. In the exhibition catalogue Clutter notes:

"After Atelier 17 was reestablished in New York City [with the onset of World War II], Hayter was ready to begin experiments with color that would allow for a plate to pass through the press only once. The primary method of achieving this throughout the 1940s and '50s was to roll colors onto a plate through stencils. Generally, the plate was first intaglio inked in black; meaning that black ink was forced into the crevices of the plate and then the top surface was wiped clean so only the lines and textures would print onto the paper. The colors were then rolled over the top surface of the plate and the combination of colors sent through the press all in one pass. ...Bernard Brussel-Smith's Cain and Abel proofs provide insight into how such a work was developed, with a black and white proof of the engraved line which can be compared with the further developed image, with both the soft ground textures and stencil-rolled colors applied."

These proofs, the black and white state proof and another color variant from the one shown on this website, can be viewed online on the exhibition page of www.TyrusClutter.com.