The Crucifixion (Twelfth Station)

Dick Swift

This impression, Station no. 12, is one of fourteen intaglio prints of the Stations of the Cross produced between 1957 and 1958. They are called "mixed technique" intaglios because the artist used several different intaglio techniques including; aquatint, drypoint, etching, engraving, and soft-ground etching.

The "Stations of the Cross" (also 'The Way of the Cross') is a 14-step Christian devotion that commemorates Jesus Christ's last day on Earth as a man. The 14 devotions, or stations, focus on specific events of his last day, beginning with his condemnation. The stations are commonly used as a mini pilgrimage as the individual moves from station to station. At each station, the individual recalls and meditates on a specific event from Christ's last day. Specific prayers are recited, then the individual moves to the next station until all 14 are complete.

Dick Swift illustrated the story of the Stations of the Cross as a modern drama, instilled with references to the injustices and sufferings in the 20th century.

In this composition three figures, standing behind a barbed fence and Picasso's minotaur from 'Guernica', astride a tank, behold the spectacle of Christ's crucifixion, the twelfth station of the fourteen.