Mid-Century Etching of Ennismore Gardens London #1 of 2

Description

This etching of Ennismore Gardens was drawn, etched, and printed on special paper for prints from copper plates in 1969. … more This etching of Ennismore Gardens was drawn, etched, and printed on special paper for prints from copper plates in 1969. It has a grey wood frame and a double mat. The inner mat is light grey, and the outer mat is black. The artist, Mary Abouchaar was a graduate student at Hornsey College of Art, London, with printmaking as a major. She drew this scene of the buildings and trees while sitting in the cold weather of winter. One of the windows in the background is of the room at the convent of the sisters of the Resurrection, where Mary was staying and that served as comfortable lodgings for girls who were studying in London. The surrounding buildings were offered to consuls or ambassadors as residences while they were serving as diplomats in Great Britain. Ennismore Gardens is a small enclave adjacent to Knightsbridge and is a walking distance from Harrods. Mary Abouchaar completed drawings of Ennismore Gardens on copper plates from two opposite angles. This etching is print #1 of 2 total prints. The scene depicted from the opposite angle consists of three original prints in total. Therefore, the number of original etchings depicting Ennismore Gardens is five, with only two viewed from this angle, and three from the opposite angle of the scene. No other etchings have been printed from those two copper plates because the etched plates were destroyed by the college in 1969, after the five original prints had been completed. The process used in making these etchings was to cover a copper plate with acid-resistant wax, then to draw through the wax with an etching needle to expose the copper beneath. Once the entire scene has been drawn through the wax into the copper plate, the plate is dipped in acid. The acid bites into the metal only through the lines that expose the copper plate and causes deep recesses which will hold ink and print dark lines on the paper. The final step before applying ink onto the plate is to remove the wax on the copper plate with a solvent. less