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Robert Bechtle

Because reversal is inherent to the etching process, Bechtle’s print is a mirror image of the lift (preparatory) drawing. In the drawing’s lower margin, Bechtle wrote, “This is not a finished work of Art!” Indeed, the drawing was no more than a tool for him. Laid on top of the various copperplates, it facilitated the tracing of the print’s design and the mapping out of its colors.

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Robert Bechtle working at Crown Point Press, photograph by Kathan Brown, Courtesy Crown Point Press

Banner image: Detail, Mamma Andersson, Room Under the Influence, 2008, color spitbite aquatint, sugarlift aquatint, aquatint, and softground etching,  Gift of Kathan Brown, Crown Point Press, © Mamma Andersson

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