Artist/Designer: Robert Kipniss

Title: Porch and Hillside 1991

Medium: Mezzotint

Dimensions: Image: 5.875"h x 3.625" Paper 10.625" x 7.875" Offered unframed. (Please contact us for framing options.)

Details: Hand-signed Trial Proof bottom left side of image and Kipniss right side of image. Final edition of 75 with 10 artist proofs. Generally up to five trial proofs were pulled often on different papers for comparison. This example on cream rag paper.

Notes from the Archive: Robert Kipniss has his own approach to creating a mezzotint print. As described in the book, Robert Kipniss Intaglios 1982-2004, a copper plate is prepared usually by a mechanical rocker creating hundreds of evenly placed rough points in the surface of the metal. Next different kinds of steel burnishers are used to polish the rough copper surface. Polishing lessens the amount of ink the plate will retain and allows the artist to achieve a wide and subtle range of tonal effects, hence the name mezzotint, meaning middle tones. To get pure white in an area, the surface must be polished mirror smooth so that no ink will be held on the plate. As he produces light areas, the artist's forms emerge from the darkness. Untouched areas will print a velvety black that is a special characteristic of the mezzotint.

In Porch and Hillside, the viewer is transported to a summer evening, just at twilight, where the last rays of light kiss the tops of lush greenery and the edge of a porch. An imagined landscape, yet evocative of memories we all have experienced. 

Shipping Notes: Free shipping included in the continental US. Please contact us for international shipping arrangements.

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