Artwork Description:
Please note that this etching is shipped to the buyer without a frame or mat. This keeps the price reasonable and also allows the collector a wide range of choice in framing selection. For shipment, a sturdy cardboard box is employed. The etching is first wrapped in two layers of acid free glassine and then placed between two archival boards. This is next placed into the shipping box and securely packed with bubble wrap. The price does not include any shipment costs. This etching is executed on three individual zinc plates and printed with five colors of oil-based, French etching inks on Rives BFK white paper, also French. Each zinc plate measures five inches high by four inches wide or 12.700cm by 10.160cm. The full image size with separation spaces between the plates is about five inches high by 12.5 inches wide or 12.700cm by 31.000cm. The print’s paper size is ten-inches high by twenty-two inches wide or 25.400cm by 55.880cm. The artist hand-printed the work at The Center for Works on Paper within The Open Printmaking Studio, at Fleisher Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US. The studio techniques included aquatint, drypoint, and intaglio. This THIRD EDITION is extremely small, only five prints, AND IS THE LAST EDITION. EACH OF THE THREE Editions HAVE ONLY five ETCHINGS. The very specialized wiping and inking techniques make this work a combination of monoprinting and etching. The image is from a bas-relief over the main door of the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral, located at 38th and Ludlow Streets. Mr. Gie Liem photographed the work for the artist to use as a study. The terracotta bas relief dates from the late-1800’s. The relief artist is unknown, but the name is currently under investigation. It is one of the few artworks to survive a destructive church fire in 1902, when the building was know as The Church of the Savior. What makes this work unique is the presence of an African-American slave with his broken chains at Christ’s feet.