Totanka ha

Ramon Edward Oeschger

Ramon Oeschger worked at experimental printmaking center Atelier 17 in Paris in the early 1950s. This print's combination of vivid colors and layered shapes and lines illustrates the staying power of the Atelier's early forays into the new world of the color viscosity intaglio process.

Totanka (or Tatanka) is a Sioux word for bison but also describes a spritual way of being and the importance of the bison to the lives of the Native Americans of the West. The word is also found in Eastern mystical societies.

Oeschger attended San Francisco State University where he received his teaching credential and then he earned his M.A. from San Jose State University. Oeschger traveled to Paris in the 1950s to work at Stanley William Hayter’s experimental workshop, Atelier 17. A forty-year teaching career followed and he taught printmaking at San Jose City College.

Oeschger concentrated primarily on printmaking, specifically etching and engraving, as well as the collagraph process. He was awarded a purchase prize at the National Print Exhibition, 14th Biennial at the Brooklyn Museum.