Claude Gerald Saucy (b. 1929)
Kalanchoe
Geranium
Constant Nymph [Streptocarpus]
Cyclamen
Green and brown ink etchings with hand coloring
Each signed and titled below platemark, with A.P. notation
11.75 x 8.75 inches, platemark
20 x 15.25 inches, overall
$2,800, set of four
Four Etchings of Flowering Plants
Claude Saucy, 20th Century
Claude Saucy, 20th Century
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Kalanchoe sheet (left), platemark (right) |
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Geranium sheet (left), platemark (right) |
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Constant Nymph sheet (left), platemark (right) |
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Cyclamen sheet (left), platemark (right) |
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Set of four prints of flowering plants, two printed in green ink and two in sepia ink, with additional subtle hand coloring in watercolor. Drawn in a graceful, linear style, each plant has its own character. The subjects seem to have been chosen for the visual interest of their leaves, which have strikingly rich textures and curving planes that the artist plays off the vertical linear forms of the stems. The prints demonstrate the attention to detail of traditional natural history illustrations, though with a modern artist's interest in the formal qualities of the plants, as opposed to an 18th- or 19th-century illustrator's interest in the classification of species. All of the prints are labeled “A.P.,” i.e. artist’s proofs, a designation meaning the print is not part of a numbered edition. Artist’s proofs generally are early strikes of the print or prints retained by the artist and not sold by the publisher.
Claude Saucy is a Swiss printmaker and educator whose primary media are wood engraving, copperplate engraving, and etching. He is included in the Biografisches Lexikon der Schweizer Kunst [Biographical Dictionary of Swiss Artists] (1998).
Condition: Generally very good, rich impressions, with the usual overall light toning and wear. Tape residue from former mounting in outer margins verso, is stable and does not affect front.
Reference:
“Saucy, Claude.” Swiss Institute for Art Research. 2006. http://www.sikart.ch/ (20 September 2007).