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4

JACKSON POLLOCK

Untitled

.

Etching and drypoint on white wove Italia paper, 1944-45. 302x230 mm; 11

7

/

8

x9 inches,

full margins. Numbered 31/50 in pencil, lower right. Printed by Emiliano Sorini, New

York, with the blind stamp lower left, in 1967. Published by the Pollock Estate, with the

blind stamp lower left. A superb impression of this extremely scarce, important etching.

Following is an account written by the printmaker Gabor Peterdi, who was entrusted with

printing Pollock’s surviving intaglio plates, “Shortly after Pollock’s death, during the time

when the MoMA was organizing the Pollock retrospective, I received a call fromWilliam

Lieberman. He told me, they had discovered in Pollock’s estate four plates in rather

neglected condition—corroded, dirty, etc.—and they wanted to find out if they could be

salvaged. Lieberman asked me whether I were willing to undertake this

job.As

Lieberman

and I had a longstanding professional association, and as I also felt strongly that Pollock’s

work should be saved if possible, I consented to try.

The four plates were in terrible condition, full of corrosion, with most of the drypoint

flattened out. Further, the four plates contained six images, as two of the plates had images

on both sides. This would create additional problems with printing. I cleaned the plates

and reworked the drypoint on all six images. As I knew Pollock personally and worked

together with him at Hayter’s Atelier 17, I knew very well his own way of working so the

restoration was no problem.

Then I printed up some proofs (before steelfacing) of all the images and gave one set to

the MoMA. At this time, I advised the museum that, after steelfacing, four of the images

were sound enough to be printed in editions. The other two were weak, underetched

images with too much corrosion. So, you could say it was I who decided which images

to print, based entirely on what was feasible. All this (cleaning, restoration, printing of

proofs) was done by me in my studio in Rowayton, Connecticut.

I also recommended [Emiliano] Sorini to do the printing of the editions. Sorini had

printed some of my own plates for me and, at that time, was teaching under my

supervision in the Yale University printmaking workshop. Sorini made the prints in his

own studio. I do not know who did the steelfacing. I had nothing to do with the choice

of paper,” (Gabor Peterdi, letter written March 13, 1987).

Pollock’s (1912-1956) NewYork apartment was located opposite of Atelier 17 on East 8th

Street and was frequented by other Abstract Expressionists such asWilliam Baziotes and Robert

Motherwell. It was here that Hayter instructed Pollock in the technique of drypoint and etching

in the autumn of 1944. (Emmerling,

Jackson Pollock: 1912-1952

, p. 60). Pollock tested his method

of building up an image with interlocking lines and brushstrokes, for which he would become

famous, through his experimentation with etching. He reworked many of his etchings with

ink and gouache; and in most cases, professionally printed impressions of his plates were not

taken until after his death. O’Connor/Thaw 1081.

[20,000/30,000]