Plant

Ramon Edward Oeschger

By 1962 Ramon Oeschger had spent several years working at the famed experimental printmaking workshop Atelier 17 in Paris, and this print's organic, lush atmosphere, made luminescent with its vivid colors and layered textures, illustrates the staying power of the Atelier and its foray into the new world of color viscosity printmaking.

Before his time at the Atelier, he had been a pinter first and a printmaker second. However, after returning to the Bay Area in the mid 1950s, Oeschger concentrated almost entirely on printmaking, specifically etching and engraving, as well as the collagraph process. He took on a teaching position at San Jose City College where he would eventually become Chair of the Art Department and remain an influential promotor of printmaking for the rest of his nearly four-decade career. He was awarded a purchase prize at the National Print Exhibition, 14th Biennial at the Brooklyn Museum.