About This Print
In explaining the title of this print, and others in this series Between Vertical and Horizon-Descended Triangle, Ida states:
The something 'Between Vertical and Horizontal' is what emerges from the interaction of the forces involved. As an artist I create situations to discover my relationship to substances.1 The meaning of 'descended triangle' is the idea of penetrating beneath the surface, be it in a vertical or horizontal condition.2
Entry in Shoichi Ida, Prints in the Collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto
Wall Card from the Exhibition Three Masters of Abstraction
Hagiwara Hideo, Ida Shōichi and Takahashi Rikio
November 3, 2018 - March 24, 2019
Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205
井田照一 Ida Shōichi (1941–2006)
Descended Triangle (A),
from the series Surface is the Between: Between Vertical and Horizon1987
Color spit bite, aquatint, drypoint and chine collé on paper
Lent by Irwin Lavenberg, L2017.103.1Ida invites us to contemplate the balance between the artist’s hand, three geometric shapes, and the force of gravity acting on the vertical and horizontal planes of the print.
Some Technical Notes
Ida employed the techniques of spit bite, aquatint and drypoint in creating this print at San Francisco's Crown Point Press.3 The base (support) paper is Somerset Satin with gampi paper being used for the chine collé. "[T]hin gampi paper is colléd over an image already printed on the support paper, and another image is printed on top of the gampi." Note that the "triangle and square are veiled and the circle, printed on top of the gampi, is clearly exposed."4
1 Magical Secrets About Aquatint, Spit Bite, Sugar Lift & Other Etched Tones Step-By-Step; Emily York,
Crown Point Press, 2008, p. 25.
2 Magical Secrets About Chine Collé Pasting, Printing, Mounting and Leafing Step-By-Step; Brian Shure,
Crown Point Press, 2008, p. 25.
2 Magical Secrets About Chine Collé Pasting, Printing, Mounting and Leafing Step-By-Step; Brian Shure,
Crown Point Press, 2009, p. 335.
3 website of Crown Point Press http://archive.today/w9I0T#selection-329.0-329.70 and http://www.crownpoint.com/printmaking/engraving
Aquatint is a ground, a material that resists acid, but it is not a solid coating on the plate. Aquatint is used for making tones, and is composed of fine particles. The acid bites around the particles, creating a tooth in the plate to hold ink. The metal plate is first dusted with fine particles of rosin. If the artist wants an even tone, the printer creates a rosin dust storm in an aquatint box so that the particles will sift onto the plate evenly. After the rosin particles are on the plate, they must then be heated to adhere them. After that, the artist paints varnish or asphaltum (tar) on the parts of the plate where he or she does not want an image, and the plate is submerged in acid. The acid bites around each tiny grain of rosin. The deeper the bite, the more ink is held in the plate and the darker the tones will be in the print.If the artist bites the plate unevenly by painting the acid over the prepared aquatint surface, the print is called a spit bite aquatint. Spit biting gives an effect similar to watercolor washes.
Drypoint is the form of engraving that contemporary artists use the most. Drypoint lines are simply scratched into a plate with a sharp point. The scratching doesn't remove the metal but throws it up as a burr and makes a ridge similar to the ridge of earth thrown up when a plow goes through a field.
4 op. cit., Magical Secrets About Chine Collé, p. 23.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1086 |
| Title | Between Vertical and Horizon-Descended Triangle (A) |
| Series | Between Vertical and Horizontal |
| Artist | Ida Shōichi (1941-2006) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | no artist's seal |
| Publication Date | 1987 |
| Edition |  |
| Publisher |  |
| Printer | Nancy Anello |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | excellent |
| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | |
| H x W Paper | 20 x 25 in. (50.8 x 63.5 cm) |
| H x W Image | 7 x 14 in. (17.8 x 35.6 cm) |
| Collections This Print | Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco 1992.167.349; National Gallery of Art, U.S.A. 1998.40.227 |
| Reference Literature | Shoichi Ida, Prints in the Collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, 2012, p. 143, cat. no. 268; Magical Secrets About Aquatint, Spit Bite, Sugar Lift & Other Etched Tones Step-By-Step; Emily York, Crown Point Press, 2008, p. 24, pl. 5. |
5/24/2021
10/10/18
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