Abstract No. I

Cathal Brendan O'Toole

Irish born Cathal O'Toole moved to the US in 1925 and studied printmaking at the Art Students League. In 1934 he spent three years studying in Europe on a Pulitzer award and spent time studying with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 in Paris where printmakers from around the world assembled and were doing experimental work.

"Abstract No 1", done in 1937, before Atelier 17 moved from Paris to the United States, is the result of working with a number of experimental intaglio techniques such as soft-ground etching, impressed with the transferred grain from a wood-block, engraving, etching, and aquatint. A fine example of what Atelier 17 represented.

O'Toole signed this impression indicating his membership in two art organizations: "A.N.A" (Associate of the National Academy) and "S.A.E". (Society of American Etchers), which he squeezed in later behind his signature. He discusses his methods in an article titled "While There's Copper There's Hope" in the magazine American Artist, June 1942, Vol. 6 Issue 6, page 24.

Though Atelier 17 in Paris was founded to explore primarily engraving, these other innovations carried over to the work that printmakers began doing at the Atelier in New York in the 1940s.