Perlman Teaching Museum - Dead Sea Gull

Bookmark: https://artcollection.carleton.edu/objects-1/info/1090

Dead Sea Gull

1965
20th century
29 1/4 in. x 19 in. (74.3 cm x 48.26 cm)

Wendell Black, American, (1919–1972)

Object Type: Prints

Creation Place: North America, United States

Medium and Support: engraving on paper

Credit Line: Carleton College Art Collection, purchased with funds from the General Services Foundation, family foundation of John M. Musser

Accession Number: 1998.032

In Dead Sea Gull, the artist combined disturbing subject matter with virtuoso technique to create an unforgettable image. Engraving, perfected as an art medium by such Northern Renaissance artists as Albrecht Durer is seldom used in the twentieth century. In this technique, lines are incised in the metal plate with a buren, a metal tool requiring considerable force and control. With the more popular etching technique, by contrast, lines are created by drawing into an acid-resistant ground covering the plate. Black's intricately drawn Dead Sea Gull seems to defy the inherent rigidity of the engraving process.

Wendell Black received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Iowa where Maurizio Lasansky, by teaching teachers and through his art, stimulated a printmaking revival in the U.S. after World War II. From a teaching post at the Unversity of Colorado, Black in turn trained Ray Jacobson, who joined the Carleton art faculty in 1955.

In 1966, a host of events including the Centennial Print Invitational Exhibition marked the Carleton College Centennial. The Dead Sea Gull, along with several other works, was purchased for the College with funds donated by the General Services Foundation through trustee John M. Musser.

Keywords Click a term to view the records with the same keyword

This object has the following keywords:

20th Century, 21st Century, American*, Contemporary*, engraving (printing process)*, engravings (prints)*, paper (fiber product)*, prints (visual works)*

20th Century
21st Century
American - Refers to the context of or associated specifically with the modern political entity of the United States of America.
Contemporary - Refers to painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and architecture dating from the recent past and present. It differs from modern art in that the term 'contemporary art' does not carry the implication of a non-traditional style, but instead refers only to the time period in which the work was created. 'Modern' and 'contemporary' are inherently fluid terms. The term 'contemporary' is sometimes more narrowly used to refer to art from ca. 1960 or 1970 up to the present.
engraving (printing process) - The intaglio process in which the design is incised into a printing plate, usually a flat copper plate, with the aid of a graver or burin that is held in the palm of the hand and pushed against the copper to cut lines comprising V-shaped grooves. The plate is then inked up, wiped so that ink is retained in the grooves and then forced out under the pressure of the printing process to create lines on the paper. The technique was first developed in the early 15th century in Germany, probably by goldsmiths who wished to keep records of the designs they had engraved on their wares. The process is distinct from "wood engraving (process)," which is a process for relief printing; "wood cut (process)" refers to engraving wood blocks for printing. Historically, "engraving" has sometimes been used incorrectly to refer to all printmaking processes, particulalry any process employing printing plates. For the single step of incising an inscription or design into any surface, not only a printing plate, see "engraving (incising)."
engravings (prints) - Refers to prints on paper incorporating impressions of a reverse design created on a printing plate, usually copper, into which the design has been incised (engraved) using burins or gravers. Historically, "engravings" has sometimes been incorrectly used to refer to all prints, regardless of the specific technique. For prints made from designs engraved on a flat wooden block, use "wood cuts"; for prints made from a plate that is etched rather than engraved, use "etchings."
paper (fiber product) - Refers generally to all types of matted or felted sheets or webs of fiber formed and dried on a fine screen from a pulpy water suspension. The fibers may be animal, such as hair, silk or wool, or mineral, such as asbestos, or synthetic. However most paper is made from cellulosic plant fiber, such as from wood pulp, grass, cotton, linen, and straw.
prints (visual works) - Pictorial works produced by transferring images by means of a matrix such as a plate, block, or screen, using any of various printing processes. When emphasizing the individual printed image, use "impressions." Avoid the controversial expression "original prints," except in reference to discussions of the expression's use. If prints are neither "reproductive prints" nor "popular prints," use just "prints." With regard to photographs, see "photographic prints"; for types of reproductions of technical drawings and documents, see terms found under "reprographic copies."