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Exhibition Introduction

Note to the Reader
Acknowledgments

Introduction
Keith
John
Leslie
Self-Portrait

Introduction
Touched Red
Green
Combination
High Green Version 1

Introduction
17 Drawings by Thoreau
Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing)
Changes and Disappearances
Where R=Ryoanji
Fire
The Missing Stone
75 Stones
Eninka
Stones
Where There is Where There

Introduction
Anne Appleby
Pia Fries
Darren Almond
Susan Middleton
Joel Fisher
Brad Brown
Tom Marioni

Introduction
Mamma Andersson
Sol LeWitt
Fred Wilson
Robert Bechtle
Kiki Smith

Introduction
Julie Mehretu
Wayne Thiebaud
Jockum Nordström
Tomma Abts
Nathan Oliveira
Chris Ofili

Introduction
Pat Steir
Laura Owens
Wayne Thiebaud
Amy Sillman

Robert Bechtle

Robert Bechtle, Texas and 20th Intersection, 2004

Texas and 20th Intersection (lift drawing)
2004
colored pencil on tracing paper (masking tape on edge)
image: 22 3⁄16 × 31 1⁄8 (56.4 × 79.1)
sheet: 26 1⁄4 × 36 3⁄8 (66.7 × 92.4)
Crown Point Press
Robert Bechtle, Texas and 20th Intersection, 2004

Detail, lower right, Texas and 20th Intersection (lift drawing)
2004
colored pencil on tracing paper (masking tape on edge)
image: 22 3⁄16 × 31 1⁄8 (56.4 × 79.1)
sheet: 26 1⁄4 × 36 3⁄8 (66.7 × 92.4)
Crown Point Press
Robert Bechtle, Texas and 20th Intersection, 2004

Texas and 20th Intersection
2004
color softground etching and aquatint
plate: 22 × 30 3⁄4 (55.9 × 78.1)
sheet: 30 7⁄8 × 39 (78.5 × 99.1)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Kathan Brown,
2006

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

Next: Kiki Smith

"Yes, No, Maybe: The Art of Making
Decisions," lecture by exhibition curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Julie Mehretu, artist, in conversation with curator Judith Brodie, Diamonstein-Spielvogel lecture (audio)

"An Insider's Perspective," lecture by Kathan Brown, founder of Crown Point Press (audio)

Exhibition tour by curators Judith Brodie and Adam Greenhalgh (audio)

Robert Bechtle in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Crown Point Press prints in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Press release