 |
| Kara Walker, Suite 3. Porgy and Bess, embracing, 2013, lithograph. 9 x 12 inches. Image via arionpress.com. |
Libretto for George Gershwin opera is artist’s first
series of lithographs
Arion Press presents Porgy & Bess, illustrated with 16
lithographs by Kara Walker, and a separate suite of four additional lithographs.
The opera with music by
Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward and lyrics by DuBose Haywood and Ira
Gershwin is the occasion for Walker’s first series of lithographs.
Walker launched the
publication last November at the gala opening of the IFPDA Print Fair at the
Park Avenue Armory in New York.
Emily
Nathan writes in the March 2014 issue of ARTnews
:
Floating like a small picture window on the white expanse of every page, each of the 16 illustrations has a messy, aggravated border – the result of Walker’s rubbing technique – and all the figures are represented in her signature silhouette style.
Excerpt
of Kara Walker’s Porgy & Bess
artist statement:
Unlike the bulk of my work, in which I plumb erratically and sometimes dangerously through American history using narrative forms and mis-readings of racist texts as the basis, the Porgy & Bess series of images is quite straightforward, more an homage to the feeling of the music. And to that feeling I had as a child of a heavy atmosphere hanging around a timeless act of love.
PUBLICATION
DETAILS:
Book with 16 b/w lithographs: edition of 400, numbered and
signed, $1,750.
26 lettered copies for complimentary distribution to
participants in project.
Suite of four lithographs: edition of 40, on mouldmade paper,
numbered and signed, $10,000 (book purchase required).
Prints are numbered 1/40 = 40/40; 5 are artists proofs numbered
AP 1/5 to AP 5/5; and 5 are printer’s/publisher’s proofs, numbered PP 1/5 – PP
5/5.
The book is a large quarto, printed by letterpress and hand
bound, in a slipcase.
View the complete prospectus in PDF format.
