BluePrint

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There are several takeaways from printing the woodblock:

a. An interesting effect can be otained by slightly misregistering but note the print tvat was mast effective in trems of depth of colour and also volumn within the print (shading effects)

b. Take care with moire effects when over-printing plates & aldo ink contamination for other subsequently printing!

c. The colours can be mixed on the plate altho this was possible with available rollers as I was doing my inking after most ppl had finiahed.

d. See the effective results of cutting away plate (reduction) for depth in combination with a small misregistration. Another student printing in 3 colours achieved v good results im conveying depth using tbis method

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Marc Chagall Belarusian/French, 1887–1985

Rencontre à la grande fenêtre, 1976

In André Breton’s 1924 Manifesto of Surrealism, the author famously describes an experience where, upon falling asleep, he became curious about the phrase “there is a man cut in two by a window”. This quote has been interpreted as Breton envisioning a barrier separating the conscious and the unconscious through a sheet of transparent glass. While Chagall had previously experimented with the window as a reflection device before Breton’s Manifesto - mimicking the colours of Paris, as seen in the infamous 1913 work Paris par la fenêtre - in the present work, he goes further.

In Rencontre à la grande fenêtre, there is an uncanny paradox between how the window divides the monotony of the everyday, but also facilitates its convergence with the fantastical. A woman levitates, mirroring the pose of other flying figures above. Her arms extend dramatically across the vertical axis established by the two bouquets - one held by an angel and the other by a woman below. Meanwhile, a couple outside the window wander along the banks of the Seine, blissfully unaware of the fantastical chaos within. What blurs the boundary between these two worlds are the two cockerels, one perched on the bridge and the other rotating amidst the clouds. The positioning of these cockerels is impossible to discern, further reinforcing if windows reflect or restrict imagination.

From artnet entry for Rencontre à la grande fenêtre

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Two coloursPurple - red & blue with white & a little blackRed (red brown?) - red & yellow with a little black

The rolled out colour on the plate was an equal amount of both dabbed on the desk & rolled together. Works well with the FT.

See print for further points to follow up on

Ober application of glue to the newspaper. I need to be more methodical about coverage & not worry when it dries.

The wiping of the plastic plate. I feel the plate could/should be wiped more & with textural effects where it covers the newspaper. Overly much ink on the tin foil on the head.

The newspaper - where do I want straight versus ripped edges.

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T. Lux Feininger (German - American, 1910 - 2011)

View of intersection E 22nd St and 2nd Ave IV

New York 1950-1951

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Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1915). Brandenburger Tor. Oil on canvas. Public Domain, private Collection Würth in Germany, image via Wikimedia Commons.

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Kirchner’s Expressionism and Urban Anxiety | Art Learnings

Kirchner turns the modern city into lived anxiety—angled streets, compressed space, and color that tightens the crowd. German Expressionism,

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Final printing session: it called for greater focus & organisation than anticipated.

I printed a block colour on the back of each print that could potentially be used in the two sequences to be hung back to back. The image (above) shows an approximation of the effect. The inital plan was to print using silver.

a. The use of the silver didn't prove effective: it provided a 'gloss' rather than a noticeable colour unless - it seemed - applied quite thickly. Also it seemed difficult to get even coverage. - I am pretty sure because it dried v quickly due to being so plastic (RB). A v similar colour could be achieved with white & v small amount of black - noticed from seeing a colour mixed by another student.

b. There was an issue with the screen size compared to the area of the pre-existing images, which reflected how much of the edges of the screen I taped up. The solution was to tape each screen less & do each print in two iterations. Ofcourse that left a stripe of darker yellow; it also amplified the care needed in handling (more chance of yellow transfer on the existing image).

c. There was a greater need for preparation of the images to be printed so as to maximise the limited space & there should have been more awareness of the key images (centre character, which were limited in number - without the bark & map layers). More attention should also have been paid to taking the images off the racks (again limited space; limited time meant images were not fully dry & danger of yellow transfer was increased).

d. Greater focus of attention was needed in a busy & noisy print room when handling and stacking the semi-dried prints (so as to ensure this went in order of driest to most recently printed) and with tissue - not newsprint- in between the individual prints to limit the prospect of yellow ink transferring to the pre-existing images.

e. Unwanted yellow could be removed if seen when fresh & wiped off carefully with a sponge but this was far from ideal option in maintaining a fast paced rhythm.

ALL of which could have been anticipated & should have been foreseen & planned for: proper preparation prevents piss poor printing.

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Inge Morath Dostoevsky’s St. Petersburg view from Raskolnokov’s window 1967

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"He would have liked to become totally oblivious, oblivious of everything, and then wake up and start totally anew..."

"She grew up in the shadow of Nazi Germany, and her first encounter with modern art was in 1937 at the notorious Entartete Kunst exhibition organized by the Nazi Party in Munich, consisting of 650 pieces of ‘Degenerate Art’."

Inge Morath Remembered - Magnum Photos

Inge Morath Remembered | Magnum Photos https://share.google/EI5MM14zDYwEcvC2i

Inge Morath's Russian Journal • Magnum Photos https://share.google/GalwkGCUOMr3RVRxb

[aka-nyontaros]