(Abstract Composition)

Suzanne Runacher

French printmaker Suzanne Runacher was born in Tientsin, China on May 16, 1912. Little is known about her life, though she did study intaglio printmaking in Paris with Johnny Friedlaender. A cursory search reveals a prolific output and an extraordinary ability to coax beauty from the plate. Her early career in the 1940s and 50s was spent in French fashion advertising, including work in Vogue, but her path veered into new, abstract territory in the 1960s.

This untitled intaglio employs several techniques to achieve carefully quilted textures and luminescent color, exemplifying Runacher’s intrinsic understanding of the complex manipulation of metal-plate printmaking. As with many of her abstract works, this composition appears to be lit from behind, like a small stained glass window.

Her abstract works could sit alongside such leading 20th century experimental color intaglio printmakers of the time.