#FridayFeature | Jim Dine, Russian Poetess, 1976 -- The prints in the Eight Sheets from an Undefined Novel series were all based on lengthy and elaborate preparatory drawings. I took a group of drawings I had been working on an decided to put them together in a series of prints. The Russian Poetess was actually inspired by a photograph of a head. The drawing was changed a lot as I reworked it many times. The woman, Akhmatova, was a Russian poetess, a friend of Mayakovsky's, I think. I just liked her face. She had a tremendous hooked nose which I liked very much. -- Prints look different than drawings. Look at the drawing and print of the Russian Poetess...the prints have qualities that are totally unique. I love to make prints. I have made them all my life. I like the medium. It's not that I necessarily want a more democratic art for all people, it's just that I like printmaking. Making prints is as important to me now as making drawings or paintings. As a matter of fact, it was the only medium, in which, up until just recently, I felt free enough to be figurative when the pressure was still on to make those field paintings with the tools hung on them. Probably because the process was one step removed from me (with the printer in between), that I felt I could start to do that. I'm not exactly sure why I did it, but making prints was the first place my interest in figurative art raised its head. -- Jim Dine and Thomas Krens, Jim Dine Prints 1970-1977: Conversations with Jim Dine, Williams College, Thames and Hudson, Ltd., London, 1977, pages 31-32 -- Artwork info: Jim Dine, Russian Poetess, from Eight Sheets from an Undefined Novel, 1976 Etching with hand-coloring, 41 3/4 x 31 inches, edition of 30, signed and numbered -- #jimdine #dine #printmaking #russian #poetess #poet #1976 #printmaking #Friday #fridayfavorite #featuredartwork #artwork #etching #novel #artist #contemporaryart #inspiration #artiststory #arthistory #backgroundinfo (at Leslie Sacks Gallery)
