Bridal Veil

Juliette Steele

Juliette Steele studied intaglio printmaking with Stanley William Hayter in the summer of 1948, when he taught at California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco. That time cemented her interest in the Abstract Surrealism that she had studied while working with surrealist Clay Spohn in San Francisco. The idea of the 'automatic' or 'gestural' line was an important Surrealist concept that evolved into Abstract Expressionism here in the United States.

"Bridal Veil" is an abstract lithograph; scraped, scratched, and drawn on the surface of the matrix using flowing, gestural lines. The title suggests a delicacy and, though like a veil, the lines are delicate, they are juxtaposed against a black and mottled background, creating the effect of a theatrical production of a dance of light.

"Bridal Veil", printed in a small edition of only 10 impressions, won a prize at the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey and brought her some national acknowlegement. David Acton has an informative essay about her work on page 58 of 'The Stamp of Impulse: Abstract Expressionis Prints', Worcester Art Museum, 2001. There is an impression of this image in the Worcester Museum.