Cinq personnages
Stanley William Hayter British
Not on view
Cinq Personnages is the first substantial print Hayter made through the simultaneous color printing method he developed, in which several colors are printed from a single intaglio plate in one pass. He transferred red-violet, green, and orange inks through stencils directly onto a plate marked with engraved lines and textural effects from soft-ground etching. The deeply personal print commemorates the death of Hayter’s teenage son, David. It reflects the Surrealist process of automatic drawing, while also showing the influence of images of the Deposition from Renaissance art: David’s limp body on the lower right evokes that of Christ after his descent from the cross, while the four surrounding figures express their torment.
