Series: Tarot
Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 4 3/8 x 2 3/8 inches (image) 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2016
Edition: of 20

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer / Marketing and Digital Content Specialist):

Takeda’s depiction of the death card is filled with eyes wide open, including on the intense central figure with their hands gracefully crossed, staring straight back at the viewer. In tarot, drawing the death card isn’t always a bad thing. Death is a normal part of life and can mean a new beginning as well as an end to something. As the year winds closer to its own death, this etching is a reminder to be alert and conscious about what in our own lives needs to come to a close and what could use more of our energy. 

Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 3 x 2 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: American, 1958
Date finished: 1997
Edition: 15/40

Recommended by Paige (Collections Manager):

" I find 'Elston Ave.' so interesting because it's a compression of a place into one image. To describe the experience of an entire city street is impossible, but here we see a version of Elston Avenue through the artist's eyes. His priorities, emphasis, symbols, and layers are borderline nonsensical, but full of texture and oddities that speak to his personal interpretation. I would love to take a walk down the avenue of Fitzpatrick's drawings."

#17467

Medium: Etching and aquatint
Dimensions: 15 3/4 x 23 1/2 inches (image)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1957
Edition: of 35
Condition: Some creases at lower left away from image.

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Starfish are symbolic of divine and endless love. These celestial beings sweep the background of Asahi’s highly technical etching. The little blue-eyed starfish serve as helpful and loving guides as the central female figure pours out the ocean from a shell as she sits on the back of a flying dragon. There is an energy to the piece, despite the artist including only tiny pops of color in the eyes and small details of each creature. Instead, linework and shape build the composition’s movement and playfulness. Each line etched into the plate is carefully scratched to give swirling loops to the water, striking contrast to the dragon scales, and delicate curves on the woman’s body. A visual boost of warm and energetic feelings."

Series: Holes for Loneliness Games
Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 10 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches (image) 15 1/2 x 15 3/4 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2012
Edition: of 20

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"The level of technical detail in this etching is intricate - from each character’s particular facial expression to the curtains, hanging plants, mirror, and archway tile designs. Takeda is so good at taking simple everyday things like drinking coffee at a coffee shop and turning them into interesting shadow box scenes. The viewer can’t help but look at each of the people in this crowded room and wonder what they are all thinking behind their wide eyes. The only character not looking at one another or at themselves in the mirror is the person directly in front of the viewer. Rather than participating in the gossip or chatter, this person is rolling their eyes and looking up at the ceiling, while they drink their coffee."

Medium: Etching, aquatint
Dimensions: 10 5/8 x 20 3/8 inches (image) 14 x 25 1/4 inches (sheet)
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Japanese, 1986
Date finished: 2015
Edition: of 15

Recommended by Sam (Owner & Director):
"Contemporary Japanese artist Azumi Takeda's etching Full, Full, Full is part of a wonderful series showing groups of people waiting, engrossed in various activities, or, as in this case, the artist focuses on the detritus left behind that references what they had been doing. There is order with the placement of the disparate objects, that speaks about each of the individuals that is no longer in the room. Takeda's use of the etching and aquatint process, is perfect for the detail required."

Medium: Etching and aquatint
Dimensions: 17 3/8 x 26 1/2 inches
Signature: Signed
Artist details: Italian, 1921 - 2009
Date finished: 1958
Edition: 152/220
Condition: G.G. blindstamp, lower left.

Recommended by Nikki (Fine Print Photographer & Content Publisher):
"Mario Avati’s piece Le Corbus (Raven) seems macabre, but there is a beauty found in sitting with death in this still life. By posing the bird like this, Avati has carefully highlighted the raven and all the interesting facets of its wings, face, body, and feet as the viewer’s eye moves from the top left of the mezzotint to the bottom right, across a clear diagonal. This image is a study of light, texture, and shape - referencing the rich history of Dutch still life paintings. The milky eye of the bird ‘looking’ directly at the viewer also serves as a memento mori, a reminder that death happens to everyone eventually."

#29368