...I want to sit at home, untouched, in yellow wraps, with painted face and in my most elegant attire...(Plate III)

Wilhelm Paul Eberhard Eggers

The third plate from Ebhart Eggers’ contemporary, Surrealist take on the play “Lysistrata,” written by 4th century BC Greek playwright Aristophanes. The theme of the work is an early concept for the proverbial “battle of the sexes,” in which the women of Greece demand an end to the ongoing Peloponnesian War by withholding sexual contact from the men of the warring states until their campaign is concluded. In this scene, the Spartan woman Lysistrata sits in her bedchambers, discussing the plan with her recruits. She details how she will revel in keeping her body - one of the few tools of power left to the women of Ancient Greece - to herself until the now decades-long war has ended. Eggers uses the morphed, headless forms of female bodies to represent the hill on which Lysistrata sits, imagining triumph.

The Title Print is encapsulated within a sealed plastic sleeve, centered on the title page which has an explanation and information of the portfolio's production: "WP Eberhard Eggers - A Scenario in 9 Etchings for Aristophanes' *Lysistrata* - The drawings were created in July/August of 1970 at the old Wangenheim-Palais in Steinhude, Germany. The etchings were made in Hannover during October and November of 1970. - The printing was done at the Atelier Wilhelm Schneider & Co., Berlin on Zerkall Echt Butten. - The text pages were printed by E.A. Quensen in Lamspringe, Germany. - Typography by Willie Lindhorst, Hannover. - The portfolio was made by the master bookbinder, Friederich W. Behrens in Hannover. - The title etching was sealed to the portfolio by Eicke Regul of Bielefeld. - The portfolio was published in an edition of 140 examples.

Numbers 1 through 100 comprise the principal edition. In preferred edition examples numbered I through X, the color etchings are on Japan paper and there is included a suite of the black plates on Zerkall Butten, plus one original pencil drawing. In preferred edition examples numbered XI through XX, the color etchings are printed on Japan paper and there is included a suite of black plates on Zerkall Butten. In addition, 10 examples lettered A through J are reserved for the collaborators and ten examples marked A.P. are in possession of the artist. - Illustrations copyright Aquarius Press 1971