- titled: "Sacre de Printempts" (lower left corner)
- signed: "Secunda" (lower right corner)
- medium: pochoir from 55 stencils
- dimensions: 84" x 35 1/2"
- edition: 40 prints, numbered 1/40 to 40/40 (the
publisher's proof is owned by the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor)
- date published: 1992
- print number: 92-01-040
- published by: Galerie Internationale
Introduction, by Arthur Secunda
This print is based on Igor Stravinsky's 1913 ballet, Sacre
de Printempts (The Rite of Spring). The positions of the
dancers in the print capture significant moments and movements from
the ballet.
This print is a pochoir, which is an old, uniquely French method
of printmaking. Today the pochoir method is normally done by
cutting thin aluminum in such a way that the shapes depicted in the
artwork are separate and defined. A special kind of razor is used
in this initial stage. Then brushing the gouache (an opaque
watercolor) onto the paper with a kind of shaving brush using
swirling motions through the aluminum cut-outs creates the effect
of a watercolor. The resulting print has the characteristics of an
original, one-of-a-kind work, unlike images created by any other
multiple printing method known.
Pochoir is often called the grandfather of silkscreen, though
silkscreen prints are printed through a screen. However, the basic
block-out method is the same. It is a medium that Lautrec,
Vuillard, Steinlen, and other poster artists at the turn of the
century in France utilized frequently and it was highly valued for
its original look.
Sacre de Printempts was printed by Jacamet Pochoir in
Avignon, France. Jacamet is generally considered the finest pochoir
printer in the world. This is one of the most complex works the
firm has ever printed, and, to the best of the company's knowledge,
this is the largest pochoir print produced to date.
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