'Diptych' — Modernist Abstraction, Atelier 17
By Stanley William Hayter
Located in Myrtle Beach, SC
Stanley William Hayter, 'Diptych', color engraving and scorper, 1967, edition 50, Black & Moorhead 314. Signed, titled, dated, and numbered '10/50' in pencil. A superb, richly-inked impression, with fresh, vibrant colors on antique-white wove BFK Rives paper; the full sheet with margins (2 1/2 to 3 1/4 inches). Minor skinning and tape residue on the top and bottom sheet edges, verso, otherwise in excellent condition. Matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 13 7/8 x 19 1/2 inches (146 x 108 mm); sheet size 19 7/8 x 25 3/8 inches (394 x 292 mm). Hayter created this work using engraving and scorper on 2 plates, printed side by side. He used alkali blue, printed intaglio, and a phthalo green with a hard roller on the surface. The proofing was in three states, the first with engraving (a single proof); the second adding further engraving and scorper (a single proof); the third added further engraving and editioned: color trial proofs, 5 artist's proofs, edition of 50. The edition was completed in three printings: 8 in 1967; then Hector Saunier printed numbers 9 through 18 in 1968, and numbers 19 through 50 in 1969. This impression is from the Saunier 1968 printing. Note: the online image cannot accurately convey the vibrancy of the printed alkali blue/phthalo green. An impression of this work is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. ABOUT THE ARTIST Stanley William Hayter (1901-1988) was a British painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with Surrealism and from 1940 onward with Abstract Expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of the 20th century, Hayter founded the legendary Atelier 17 studio in Paris, now known as Atelier Contrepoint. Among the artists he is credited with influencing are Pablo Picasso, Alberto Giacometti, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, and Marc Chagall. The hallmark of the workshop was its egalitarian structure, breaking sharply with the traditional French engraving studios by insisting on a cooperative approach to labor and technical discoveries. In 1929 Hayter was introduced to Surrealism by Yves Tanguy and André Masson, who, with other Surrealists, worked with Hayter at Atelier 17. The often violent imagery of Hayter’s Surrealist period was stimulated in part by his passionate response to the Spanish Civil War and the rise of Fascism. He organized portfolios of graphic works to raise funds for the Spanish cause, including Solidarité (Paris, 1938), a portfolio of seven prints, one of them by Picasso. Hayter frequently exhibited with the Surrealists during the 1930s but left the movement when Paul Eluard was expelled. Eluard’s poem Facile Proie (1939) was written in response to a set of Hayter’s engravings. Other writers with whom Hayter collaborated in this way included Samuel Beckett and Georges Hugnet. Hayter joined the exile of the Parisian avant-garde in 1939, moving with his second wife, the American sculptor Helen...
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
Engraving
