State ii/II. Edition of 12. Frontispiece from the series The Caprichos. Inscribed in the plate: ‘The Caprichos / Etchings/Aquatints / by Emily Lombardo / Childs Gallery Edition / Boston, MA / Printed at CCP / Norwalk, CT / 2014’. Numbered, signed, and dated in pencil in the lower margin. A fine impressionin fine condition.
The etching is in the style of Goya’s original drawing for The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, which is more graphic than its symbolic final state. In Goya’s drawing, tortured faces take the place of bats and owls in the final print. In Lombardo’s Study, anguished faces of children replace the symbolic flying elephants in her own version of the plate. The unique properties of this print are the use of both hard and soft ground lines, spit bite aquatint, and photo etched text.
The Caprichos, by Emily Lombardo, is a series of etchings which are in direct conversation and homage to Francisco Goya’s Los Caprichos, 1799. Both reveal the dark underbelly of cultural movements which ultimately serve to divide society across economic, racial, political, religious, and gender lines. Lombardo brings these issues into contemporary light through a queer feminist lens.
This edition was published by Childs Gallery and printed at The Center for Contemporary Printmaking (Norwalk, CT) by printer Opal Ecker DeRuvo. Hahnemühle Copperplate Bright White paper and Portland Black ink where used for this edition.
