Double Entendre

Herlinde Spahr

Rabbits? Ducks? Ducks? Rabbits? Herlinde Spahr created this image in reference to the rabbit/duck illusion by Austrian art historian Ernst Gombrich, from his book entitled "Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation" (1960). This image varies from print to print in color.

Herlinde Spahr, printmaker and author, was born in Antwerp, Belgium on December 19, 1952. She was an exchange student in Greene, Iowa under the program Youth for Understanding for the school year 1971-1972, and then attended the School for Dramatic Art in Antwerp, Belgium in 1972-1973. Spahr received her MA from the University of Antwerp, Cum Laude, in 1977. That same year she moved to Northern California as a graduate student and, in 1987, she received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California Berkeley, Cum Laude.

Spahr began exploring stone lithography in the early 1980s when she discovered an old Griffin press at the ASUC Studio on the UC campus. Her current studio, Lithium Press, is located in Orinda, California. She began her career making lithographs printed from limestone but, in the 1990s, she printed collaged lithographs from stone onto Formica. Recently Spahr began creating unique works on large panels of Formica incorporating techniques from printmaking.

Her work has been featured in the books The Best in Printmaking; An International Collection by Lynne Allen and 60 Years of North American Prints. 1917-2007 by David Acton. Spahr has written a series of articles about the nature of printmaking and she has published three books documenting her work.