Brice Marden
(b. 1938)
Plate 25 from "Etchings to Rexroth," 1986
Etching and aquatint on wove paper
An artist proof aside from the edition of 45
Signed, titled 25, dated, and inscribed AP in pencil along the lower margin edge: B. Marden; Judith Melby, New York, prntr.; Peter Blum Edition, New York, pub.
Image 8" H x 6.75" W; Sheet: 19.625" H x 16" W
Other Notes: The 1986 publication of Brice Marden's "Etchings to Rexroth" represents the realization of an ambitious series of images showing the artist's exploration and gradual mastery of several new print techniques with a new master printer and publisher. It also marks a pivotal time when Marden was shifting his general aesthetic away from the minimalist, monochrome, rectilinear style by which he had been known up until then, to begin exploring the looser, more rhythmic, and gestural treatments that continue to this day as some of the hallmarks of his mature style.

The title of this 25 intaglio plate series -- of which we are selling an artist proof impression of just the final image -- is somewhat misleading. According to Jeremy Lewison's catalogue raisonne, although very interested in poetry, Marden claims that these etchings are not direct illustrations for Kenneth Rexroth's 20th century translation of poems by the 8th century Chinese poet, Tu Fu. Instead, Marden and his master printer have indicated that these etchings and etchings with aquatint were influenced by various other things.

During trips to his second home in Greece from the 1970s onward, Marden often sketched the contrasting forms of the mountains, the sea, and the spaces around them. According to Lewison, he also became interested in collecting and studying spiral-type shells after visiting a seashell museum during a trip to Asia in 1984. Less than a year later, Marden was further inspired to reconsider his approach to line and space after he repeatedly visited a museum exhibition in New York City entitled, "Masters of Japanese Calligraphy 8th-19th Century." To varying degrees, traits of these concurrent influences begin to appear in the mid-1980s in Marden's paintings as well as printed works such as "Etchings to Rexroth."

Even within the 25 black and white plates comprising this series, one can detect a gradual trend towards looser, more calligraphic, and sometimes "colorful" images. Like his earlier prints and paintings, the first few plates feel the most monochromatic, static, and grid-like, whereas by the end of the series (i.e. our plate), Marden shows greater abandon and a willingness to fill the entire image area with abutting or intersecting forms and calligraphic, animated lines. In a few plates, the addition of aquatint even provides a sense of color. Various authors have said that Marden believed this print series only "really clicked" as of the fifth plate, and that it wasn't until the ninth that he began to feel more comfortable with the medium and his approach. Of that plate, the artist said, "This is the one where it started. I figured this is what I want to get in the drawings and in the paintings."

In addition to being some of his earliest explorations of a new approach to his subjects, "Etchings to Rexroth" also represents the artist's full commitment to working with a new master printer, Judith Melby, and publisher, Peter Blum Edition, both in his hometown of New York City. Prior to this time, Marden had primarily traveled to California to create his prints with Crown Point Press. According to Lewison, Melby helped Marden overcome certain compositional and technical challenges he was having in the mid-1980s with the translation onto copper printing plates of images such as those he had drawn in his Greek sketchbooks. Knowing that one of Marden's newer interests was drawing with assorted sticks dipped in ink, Melby helped him achieve similar effects by dipping sticks into a sugarlift aquatint solution for application to some of the copper plates, such as the one used for the impression offered here.

As the 25th plate from "Etchings to Rexroth," the present Lot provides an opportunity to acquire a fine impression of Marden's very last and therefore most evolved image from this pivotal series in his printed oeuvre.

Literature: Lewison 40.25

Overall good condition. With full margins. The tips of the upper left and lower right margin corners ever so slightly dog-eared. The sheet is framed floating and hinged to the back mat in various places at the verso of the margin edges and corners.

Framed under Plexiglas: 22.25" H x 18.5" W x 1.75" D Condition reports are offered as a courtesy and are typically published in Moran's catalogue or can be made available upon request. The absence of a condition report does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of others. Buyers are responsible for determining to their own satisfaction the true nature and condition of any lot prior to bidding. Though buyers are not legally required to inspect lots prior to purchase, failure to do so may constitute a waiver of complaint that an item was not delivered in a condition equal to the existent condition at the auction.