Artwork Description:
This combined work of printmaking and painting employed one of Di Falco’s Artist’s Proofs from his metal plate editions. As a result of the 2020 Pandemic, Di Falco was not allowed into his etching studio at Fleisher Art School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from March to October. Consequently, he began to enhance proofs from his earlier etchings with water based media. This original one of akind artwork ships to the buyer in a frame and archival mat.
The zinc plate etching employed several baths in nitric acid and incorporated the studio techniques of INTAGLIO, AQUATINT, and DRYPOINT. The etching portion was created using French ink printed on Rives BFK white paper. The work was hand printed by the artist on a heavy duty press. The image size and size of the zinc plate used measured 8 inches high by 6 inches wide. The paper print size is 11 inches wide by 15 inches high or 27.940cm x 38.100cm. DiFalco’s “painted etching” was inspired by a photograph entitled, “Self-portrait as a Bohemian”, shot by Johnson herself in 1896. Johnson, one of the first female photographers, lived most of her life in New Orleans, but also kept a photographic studio in Washington, DC. The title of Johnsons photo, which is now housed in the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Archives in Washington, D. C., is “Frances Benjamin Johnston, full-length portrait, seated in front of fireplace, facing left, holding cigarette in one hand and a beer stein in the other, in her Washington, D. C. studio”. Call Number LOT 11734-1 item PP. Johnson was noted for her work with the Carnegie Foundation and her photographs of architecture in the US South. She was born in 1864 and died in 1952. There is a psychic connection between her and DiFalco, who has created several etchings based on her photography. Work is framed and matted. Frame is 11 inches by 14 inches.
Keywords:
Fb Johnson, Lesbian History, Photographer, Watercolors, Gouache, Etching, Original Mixed Media, History Mixed Media