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Passage Across the Sun

Susan Schwalb American
Publisher Susan Schwalb American
2008
Not on view
Schwalb is renowned for abstract compositions made with silverpoint, an ancient drawing technique that requires an extraordinary degree of precision and produces a delicate, shimmering line. In Passage across the Sun, she masterfully creates similar effects through techniques specific to printmaking, namely hard-ground and soft-ground etching and aquatint, which are either used alone or with color additions. Each etching is dominated by a single color, which works in concert with the white paper and the meticulously rendered patterns of horizontal lines to connote the nature of both time and perception, the effects of light, and various landscapes and vistas. While the linear repetition recalls the ideas of Minimalism, Schwalb rejects standardization to embrace subtle tonal variations and irregularities that connect the work with the artist’s hand.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Passage Across the Sun
  • Artist: Susan Schwalb (American, born New York City, 1944)
  • Printer: Jennifer Melby
  • Publisher: Susan Schwalb (American, born New York City, 1944)
  • Date: 2008
  • Medium: Etching and aquatint
  • Dimensions: Plate: 9 7/8 x 10 in. (25.1 x 25.4 cm)
    Sheet: 14 1/2 x 14 in. (36.8 x 35.6 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of the artist, in memory of Judge Morris and Evelyn Schwalb, 2012
  • Object Number: 2012.155.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Chamber Music: Allegro, Allegretto, Vivace, and Adagio, Susan Schwalb American, Allegro: soft ground and aquatint with paynes gray ink on Somerset textured white paper<br/>Allegretto: aquatint with blue ink on Somerset textured white paper<br/>Vivace: soft ground with maroon ink on Somerset textured white paper<br/>Adagio: hard ground and aquatint with green ink on Somerset textured white paper
Chamber Music: Allegro, Allegretto, Vivace, and Adagio
Susan Schwalb
2013
Streams of Silver, Susan Schwalb American, Etching and aquatint with hand-coloring
Streams of Silver
Multiple artists/makers
2011
He Disappeared into Complete Silence, Louise Bourgeois American, Engraving and drypoint with letterpress in a linen portfolio cover
He Disappeared into Complete Silence
Louise Bourgeois
1947
Resurrection Story with Patrons, Kara Walker American, Etching with aquatint, sugar-lift, spit-bite and dry-point, Printed on Hahnemuhle Copperplate Bright White 400gsm paper
Resurrection Story with Patrons
Kara Walker
Gregory Burnet
2017
Cloth: Label 1, Richard Tuttle American, Etching with aquatint, spitbite, sugarlift, softground, fabric collé
Cloth: Label 1
Multiple artists/makers
2002–05

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