Parchment XXVIII

Maker

(artist)
b. 1944 (Life dates)

Title

Parchment XXVIII

Date of Production

1982

Medium

copperpoint, wax, fire, smoke on clay-coated paper

Dimensions

Height: 30.4 cm
Width: 22.7 cm

Accession Number

D.2020.XX.10

Mode of Acquisition

Susan Schwalb, gift, 2020

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust). Gift of the artist, 2020.

Copyright

© Susan Schwalb

Location

Not currently on display

Label Text

Susan Schwalb is known for her use of metalpoint, a technique in which a metal stylus (in this case made of copper) is used to draw on a specially prepared surface. This remarkable work dates from the early years of Schwalb’s transition into abstraction and is among 165 ‘burnt’ works that she produced over a four-year period. First, Schwalb burnt the sheet with a candle to produce hazy, irregular smoke marks, sometimes incorporating wax, before applying precise, luminous lines with a copper stylus. The result is a meditation on the relationship between chance and artistic intention.

Provenance

Gift of the artist to the Samuel Courtauld Trust, 2020

Inscriptions

Inscription: Verso: centre, graphite, artist’s hand, last digits are artist's inventory number: Parchment XXVIII / 1982 #10825; lower centre, graphite: Parchment / XXVIII; lower right, graphite, signed: Susan Schwalb.

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