Crusader #1

John Ihle

"Crusader #1" was the first print Ihle did in his "Dualism Series", beginning in 1960. The series and this print were partly inspired by his reading Harold Lamb's 'History of the Crusades' and in part from the abstract expressionist movement, particularly the works of Franz Kline and Willem DeKooning.

Ihle took several of his small, pictograph-like images and exploded them to the metal plate using asphaltum and shellac in a painterly way and a second plate to add the color. Because of the experimental nature of this work impressions will vary in color from print to print, like a 'monoprint'.

John Ihle studied printmaking with Francis Chapin at Wesleyan University on the G.I. bill. During the summer of 1949, he attended the University of Iowa specifically to study printmaking with Mauricio Lasansky. However, Ernest Freed, Professor at Bradley University and a Lasansky student, viewed Ihle's graduate show and offered him graduate assistance at Bradley. Ihle became Freed's graduate assistant and earned his M.A. in 1951.