Peonies (also called: Japanese Peonies or Peony)

Bertha Evelyn Jaques

This impression of "Peonies" is annotated in pencil on the lower left margin: "4th Proof 2nd State." The final state adds drypoint to the composition's background until it prints as black.

Bertha Jaques, founder of the Chicago Society of Etchers, was a force in the print world of the early 20th century in America. Besides etching, she was interested in flowers and was an active member of the Wild Flower Preservation Society. She made cyanotype photograms of wildflowers by placing the flowers directly on sensitized paper and exposing the paper to light.

Jaques did many experimental prints of flowers using color and intaglio, like her friend Helen Hyde had been doing in the late 19th century.