ticketsMember | Make a donation

Cinq personnages

1946
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cinq personnages
  • Artist: Stanley William Hayter (British, London 1901–1988 Paris)
  • Date: 1946
  • Medium: Engraving and soft-ground etching; simultaneous color printing with stencils
  • Dimensions: Plate: 15 × 24 in. (38.1 × 61 cm)
    Sheet: 20 1/4 × 26 1/4 in. (51.4 × 66.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gift of Stanley William Hayter, 1947
  • Object Number: 47.39
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.
Illustration to "Poem" by Jacques-Henry Lévesque
Multiple artists/makers
1960
Le Couple
Stanley William Hayter
1952
Cronos
Stanley William Hayter
1944
Letter to Robert Lewis Isaacson 1st page, discussing Combat (1936), Stanley William Hayter British, Pen and ink
Letter to Robert Lewis Isaacson 1st page, discussing Combat (1936)
Stanley William Hayter
1941
Laocoon
Stanley William Hayter
1943

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.