Four Softground Etchings w/ Drypoint
Christopher Wool
American, born 1955
2014
A portfolio of four softground etchings with drypoint in which Christopher Wool uses dense, near‑monochrome black fields to expose the tactile traces and accidental smudges left by the printing process.
From afar the sheets present as uniform, saturated black planes, but close inspection reveals faint, ghostlike scratches, fingerprints and smudges that register the plate, the press and the artist’s gestures within the darkness.
By making the incidental marks of printmaking the subject, Wool links monochrome painting and process-based art to show how mechanical reproduction still preserves intimate traces of the hand and how absence and trace can carry conceptual weight.
Medium
Portfolio of four etchings with drypoint
Dimensions
plate (each): 11 15/16 × 8 7/8" (30.3 × 22.5 cm); sheet (each): 19 15/16 × 16" (50.7 × 40.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of John Baldessari, Catie and Donald Marron, and Mary M. and Sash A. Spencer
Accession
1743.2015.1-4
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
