UNICORN

© copyright The Artist

UNICORN 1986

Adrian Wiszniewski (1958 – )

Details

Dimension
76.2 X 56 CM
Media
ETCHING
Accession number
P5490

Summary

Whilst in his final year at University Charles Booth-Clibborn published The Scottish Bestiary under his imprint The Paragon Press. Booth-Clibborn had invited the Orkney born writer George Mackay Brown to produce texts, in the form of poetry and prose, to accompany 20 prints by Scottish artists depicting 19 animals – real and mythological. Wiszniewski one of the first artists Booth-Clibborn approached and he chose to make lithographs of the Dragon, Salmon and Unicorn. In the end Wiszniewski made three prints in three different media and exchanged the Salmon for the Raven. Apart from two etchings these were the first prints the artist had made. The Unicornlithography was abandoned after the stone broke after only 12 prints had been pulled and the artist started again, electing to produce an etching. A plate was sent to him in Liverpool, where he was then artist-in-residence at the Walker Art Gallery, and he drew a new image using a sewing needle taped to a pencil.

Further reading:
Contemporary Art in Print, Scottish National Gallery of Modern and The Paragon Press, 1995, texts by Jeremy Lewison, Duncan Macmillan and Patrick Elliott