Danse du soleil (Sun Dance or Sun Dancer)

Stanley William Hayter

An on-line search found no two examples of Danse du Soleil that were colored the same. This impression is from 'Printing a' which was an edition of 60 that was printed for distribution in England. The Black & Moorhead raisonné discusses the printing sequences for "Printing a" on page 190: "Printing a: intaglio black, orange to violet gradation offset from wood through stencil. Colour variant numbered in Roman I-LX for distribution.

'Printing b' varied in color and was printed in an edition of 200 for La Guilde Internationale de la Gravure, Geneva. This print is also known as 'Sun Dance' or 'Sun Dancer.'

The tension expressed by the human form interested Hayter throughout his early career. He wrote: "Particularly in engraving, which is essentially the art of the line, of the line in three-dimensional space, it became necessary to exploit the enormous possibilities of indicating the properties of matter, force, motion, and space."

This surrreal composition is a synthesis of his work in New York as he moved more and more to color and experimentation with different intaglio methods. "Danse du Soleil" includes gestural engraving but adds soft-ground etching into which was impressed delicate fabrics that create subtle patterns and directions. Hayter used a scorper to gouge the plate, the result being highlighted, three dimensional white areas where nothing printed. The color was applied using woodcut, stencils and rollers.