Cheri

 

Bernard Childs

  1910 - 1985 (biography)

1966  

color intaglio using power drills and burrs 

6 1/2 x 5 7/8"  

pencil, lower right 

artist's proof 12/16 

pencil titled, dated, and editioned 

Lanier Graham, "The Spontaneous Gesture, Prints and Books of the Abstract Expressionist Era", Australian National Gallery, 1987, Canberra, Australia, p. 96; illus. p. 94 (b/w) 

cream Arches wove 

published 

artist 

JC110 

$1,500.00 

This elegant, small format intaglio has been printed by Childs on a large sheet, further empahsizing the minimalist delicacy of his choice of medium, one that stands in direct contrast to the final work: engraving with power tools.

Childs pioneered the use of power tools in intaglio printmaking to create a variety of textures on the plate, which inadvertently exhibit a delicacy otherwise laborious to achieve. Close inspection shows a series of staccato lines where Childs has skillfully floated the bit of a drill across the surface, forming spidery threads and soft shadows with equal ease.

The copper plate used for this work is housed at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.