Autumn, Frick Park

Gordon Louis Mortensen

Gordon Mortensen commented on the process he used to create this composition: "Only one woodblock is used. On it an image is drawn in India ink. Before the first color is printed, any areas that are to remain unprinted (white or the color of the paper) are cut away from the surface of the block. Then an oil base ink is used to print the first color on all of the sheets of paper that are to be used for the edition and proofs.

After the first printing the block is again cut, removing any surface of the block that is to remain the first color in the finished print. After each subsequent color is printed, the block is cut, the process continues until the print is finished and most of the surface of the block is cut away." Mortensen printed this image using 25 colors and 25 press runs.

The largest of Pittsburgh's regional parks at 561 acres, Frick Park is also the youngest. Although Henry Clay Frick bequeathed the original 151 acres to the city in 1919, the park did not open until 1927 after additional land had been acquired. Most recently, 106 acres were annexed to the park as part of the process that created the Summerset at Frick Park housing development and restored the Nine Mile Run stream valley. Now Frick Park stretches from its northern borders in Point Breeze down to the Monongahela River.