The Cage

 

Fred G. Becker

  1913 - 2004 (biography)

1946  

engraving and soft-ground, printed relief and intaglio 

6 7/8 x 5" platemark 

pencil, lower right 

unnumbered state proof 

 

James Wechsler, "Fred Becker and Experimental Printmaking," figures 221-224. 

textured, heavy ivory wove 

state proof 

 

FRBE188 

SOLD

In his article "Fred Becker and Experimental Printmaking," James Wechsler described Becker's techniques for The Cage, Celestial Grub, Hooks and Eyes, and Aerial Jungle. "Back at the Atelier, Becker was able to explore further the potential of relief printing. He made four finished colour prints between 1946 and 1948: The Cage and Aerial Jungle, both in 1946, Hooks and Eyes in 1947 and Aerial Jungle in 1948. In order to insure the correct registration of the overlapping plates, Becker devised a technique wherein he first freely engraved the rudimentary abstract shapes on a piece of scratchboard (black paper coated with many layers of white gesso through which lines can be scratched). Then, using the pressure of an etching press, he pressed this low-relief engraving onto each of four plates coated with a soft-ground resist. After etching the plates with acid, he reworked each one with a variety of tools, using as guidelines the forms that were identically bitten into each one. These plates could then be inked on the surface for relief printing, inked in the recesses for intaglio printing, or inked in a combination of both ways. Because the translucent inks overlap each other in varying degrees, depending on the amount of plate surface he engraved, Becker was able to achieve dense, richly layered images with an enormous range of hues and secondary colours.