The History of Printmaking: The Last Printmaker (large plate)
Warrington Colescott, The History of Printmaking: The Last Printmaker (large plate), 1978, soft-ground etching and aquatint, with à la poupée inking, and relief rolls through stencils, printed in color on white Arches paper, Museum Purchase: Caroline Ladd Pratt Fund, © Warrington Colescott, 80.47.1k
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- Title
The History of Printmaking: The Last Printmaker (large plate)
- Related Titles
original language: The History of Printmaking: The Last Printmaker
series (original language): The History of Printmaking
- Artist
- Date
1978
- Medium
soft-ground etching and aquatint, with à la poupée inking, and relief rolls through stencils, printed in color on white Arches paper
- Edition
19/25
- Catalogue Raisonné
Chapin 228
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
plate: 21 15/16 in x 27 5/8 in; sheet: 24 7/8 in x 35 1/2 in
- Inscriptions & Markings
watermark: Arches France, watermark, lower right
signature; date: Warrington Colescott 1978, graphite, lower right
title: History of Printmaking: The Last Printmaker, graphite, lower center
edition: 19/75, graphite, lower left
- Collection Area
Graphic Arts
- Category
Prints
- Object Type
intaglio print
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Caroline Ladd Pratt Fund
- Accession Number
80.47.1k
- Copyright
© Warrington Colescott
- Terms
The History of Printmaking concludes with an apocalyptic scene from the future. At the bottom right, the final printmaker on earth returns to the first technique used for recording one's presence, blowing pigment through a straw to make a stencil of his hand. It is, as Colescott has written, a mixture of optimism and pessimism, suggesting the havoc humankind could wreak on the planet, and, at the same time, the abiding courage of the artist-printmaker, recording the experience.
- Exhibitions
2013 In the Studio: Reflections on Artistic Life Portland Art Museum
