Double page in-text plate (folios 22 and 27) from Piccolo circolo chiuso (Small Closed Circle)
Mimmo Paladino
Italian, born 1948
1991
An etching and aquatint from an illustrated book in which Mimmo Paladino pairs spare, biomorphic prints with letterpress text—here a long, bone‑ or driftwood‑like form spanning two pages—to suggest memory, ritual, and a closed circuit of images and words.
You first notice the bold, textured, almost carved silhouette cutting diagonally across the white spread, its inked veins and smudges counterpointed by neat columns of Italian letterpress that make the print feel both raw and formally composed.
Part of Paladino’s late‑20th‑century reinvigoration of figurative and mythic imagery, this book work treats the artist’s prints as sequential, tactile episodes and helped extend intaglio techniques into intimate, narrative, and sculptural uses of the book form.
Medium
Etching and aquatint from an illustrated book with 18 intaglio prints, some on fold-out pages, and letterpress text
Dimensions
irreg plate 5 7/8 x 11 13/16" (14.9 x 30 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Giorgio Upiglio
Accession
489.1992.14
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
