Night Moth (Laurels Number One)

Stanley William Hayter

"Night Moth" was printed from zinc plates in 3 states using aquatint, engraving, soft-ground etching, and scorper, and then used two silkscreens to add color. The first state was the aquatint, one proof was pulled; the second state added engraving and soft-ground texture, also printed in a single proof. The third state added the scorper and the orange and purple silkscreens printed to the zinc plate and offset to the image.

The edition of 300 impressions was printed at Atelier 17 and published in May of 1947 in the publication "Laurels Number One" by the Laurel Gallery, New York on Koichi paper. It was glued to the page at the top corners.

The Laurel Gallery was founded in New York City in 1946 by painter, printmaker, and educator, Chris Ritter. The gallery was located at 108 East 57th Street with artist Grace Borgenicht as co-director. In addition to exhibitions, the gallery published four portfolios of artists' prints and a quarterly magazine. Ritter closed the gallery in 1952, around the same time Borgenicht opened the Grace Borgenicht Gallery.

This impression was included in the Bronx Museum with Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition 2020-22: "Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking", checklist no. 14.