The premier Abstract Expressionist painter, Pollock spent several months in the fall and winter of 1944–45 experimenting with intaglio techniques at Stanley William Hayter's Atelier 17 in New York City. He created eleven engravings, including this one, that exemplify his early artistic development. Hovering between abstraction and representation, the prints articulate Pollock's spontaneous approach and early interest in the Surrealist practice of automatic writing. Interestingly, Pollock and Hayter pulled only trial proofs of this engraving; an impression of the final state was printed posthumously in 1966 in consultation with Gabor Peterdi, a fellow member of Atelier 17.

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