In the Studio

Maker

born 11/11/1959

Title

In the Studio

Date of Production

2002

Medium

soft-ground etching

Dimensions

Height: 28.7 cm (Sheet)
Width: 22.2 cm (Sheet)

Accession Number

G.2024.SP.1

Mode of Acquisition

HM Government Cultural Gifts Scheme, 2024

Credit

Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from the archive of Studio Prints gifted by the Balakjian family and allocated to the Courtauld Gallery, 2024.

Copyright

Location

On display

Label Text

Celia Paul found in Dorothea Wight the ideal collaborator for her soft-ground etchings. Wight’s skill in biting the plate in acid and then wiping the ink over the plates was essential to producing the misty atmosphere and haunting sense of introspection central to Paul’s work. Paul typically works on a small scale, making a rapid graphite sketch on tracing paper laid over a waxed copper plate. Wight then bit the plate, an exacting process that could take up to four days. This is one of two etchings in which, with Wight’s encouragement, Paul experimented with printing in colour, using subtle tones she described as ‘butterfly tints’.

Provenance

Studio Prints, London; accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from the archive of Studio Prints gifted by the Balakjian family and allocated to The Courtauld, 2024.

Inscriptions

Verso, lower right, graphite: 'CGS P001'

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