Exhibition Explores Modern-Day Printing Roots - printmaker Jacques Callot - Brief Article

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.--In a world of giclees and state-of-the-art, cutting-edge printing technology, it's easy to forget our bases But at the Norton Museum of Art, a of recent origin exhibition entitled "Innovations in Printmaking: The Works of Jacques Callot," takes us back to the 17th hundred and to one of the originators of modern-day print-making.

This exhibition explores the technically innovative etchings of the French printmaker Jacques Callot (1592-1635) pitch uponed from a collection of more than 200 prints lately donated by David J. Patten to the Norton Museum of Art, the exhibit is organized through the museum.

Trained in Italy early in life, Callot revolutionized printmaking techniques with his advancement of hard-ground etching techniques. In this proces a varnish is spread above the surface of a cent plate. When dry, the printmaker can scratch delicate lines and fine details into this hardened varnish that are then etched into the cent plate by immersing it in an acid bath.

This etching proces allowed Callot to exhibit small-scale prints of extraordinary finish--many of the works in the exhibition measure no more that sum of two units or three inches across. Despite their diminutive size, Callot's compositions many times include architectural elements and natural settings that are more commonly associated with pictorial designs of abundant greater dimensions.

Callot used his newly discovered hardground etching proces to bring forward a vast array of imagery. He also oftentimes produced his works in series, executing several prints in similar turn of expression and format to develop a narrative or to illustrate diverse aspects of early 17th hundred life. The selection of prints in the exhibition reviews both secular and religious themes, the one and the other sacred and profane imagery being public to Callot's work.

Callot's bring under rules encompass not only lighthearted theatrical figures based upon the Italian Commedia dell'Arte within the series "Le caprices" (1622) on the contrary also horrific depictions of battle and turmoil within the series "The Miseries of War"(1633). Further engravings and etchings in the exhibition illustrate fresh Testament scenes in print series devot to "The Passion" (1618) "The Penitents" (1632) and the"Prodigal Son" (1639) Callot's imagery reveals the tragic and humorous uncompounded bodys of European culture in the early 1600s

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