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Identification and Creation

Object Number
M25928
People
Fred Becker, American (Oakland, CA 1913 - 2004 Amherst, MA)
Title
Two Poems with Birds
Other Titles
Series/Book Title: Valentines to the Wide Woeld, Poems, by Mona Van Duyn
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1959
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/71862

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Softground etching with stopout, printed in relief
Technique
Relief print
Dimensions
block: 17.6 x 9.8 cm (6 15/16 x 3 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Fred Becker
  • inscription: lower margin below block edge, to left and right, graphite (two kinds), hand written, signed, in artist's hand: "Two Poems with Birds" Fred Becker [signature evidently applied at a different time, since the graphite is different]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Susan Teller Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, January 13, 2004,

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, George R. Nutter Fund
Copyright
© 1954 Fred Becker
Accession Year
2004
Object Number
M25928
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
This print was published late in the artist's life, but the dealer from whom it was purchased says that this is an earlier proof impression. While described by the dealer as a woodcut, it is almost certainly a relief cut in a homogeneous (rather than grained) substance, and even with this more precise identification, it presents certain mysteries. How did the artist impose the texture on the block that results in the gray background tone? Why do the cuts that form the black-printing "plateaus" not inflect the grain in the same way that the pressure along the tool stroke that formed the white strokes did? Etc. The technique is mysterious but the composition delightful, and an excellent representative of the developing mode of abstraction in American art in the 1950s.

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu