
© R. Hamilton. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2023.
MY MARILYN 1965
Richard Hamilton (1922 – 2011)
Details
- Dimension
- 68.9 X 84.1 CM
- Media
- SCREENPRINT
- Accession number
- P1194
Summary
Hamilton made his first etchings and drypoints as a student in the late 1930s. Throughout the following decade he continued to use etching, drypoint and aquatint and experimented with lithography, but it was the influential screenprints incorporating photographic and hand-drawn stencils made in the 1960s which brought him international acclaim as a printmaker. My Marilynwas based on a group of photographs annotated by the actress. The first proofs were made at the art school (Newcastle) where Hamilton was then teaching. By his own account ‘I proofed the Marilyn print myself, making screens and printing rather ineptly to produce a number of variations … One of the proofs was used as the basis for a reprinting with Kelpra Studio. The final work was printed at Kelpra Studio, London and published by Editions Alecto, London in an edition of 75.
Further reading:
Richard Hamilton: Prints, Multiples and Drawings, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 1972
Out of Print British Printmaking 1946-1976, The British Council 1994
As is When A Boom in British Printmaking 1961-1972, The British Council 2003
Glossary
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Edition
All copies of a book, print, portfolio, sculpture, etc., issued or produced at one time or from a single set of type. Printed works can be made in an edition of between one and many thousands of copies. With most printing techniques the plate or screen will become worn if very many prints are made, so to maintain quality (and exclusivity) editions of original prints are usually kept below one hundred copies and normally average between thirty and fifty copies. Prints made up of several different plates can be extremely complicated and time-consuming to edition, so in these cases editions are kept low for practical reasons. Sculptural editions are a set of cast sculptures taken from the same mould or master. These editions are usually much lower, consisting of no more than six casts. Though each cast in an edition might have a lower value than a unique piece, it may be a more effective way of offsetting costs of an expensive process such as bronze casting.
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Etching
An intaglio process whereby a metal plate (normally copper, zinc or steel) is covered with an acid-resistant layer of rosin mixed with wax. With a sharp point, the artist draws through this ground to reveal the plate beneath. The plate is then placed in an acid bath (a water and acid solution) and the acid bites into the metal plate where the drawn lines have exposed it. The waxy ground is cleaned off and the plate is covered in ink and then wiped clean, so that ink is retained only in the etched lines. The plate can then be printed through an etching press. The strength of the etched lines depends on the length of time the plate is left in the acid bath.