from The International Anthology of Contemporary Engraving: The International Avant-Garde, Vol. 5, America Discovered
1963
Err (plate 9) was Robert Indiana's contribution to the avant-garde portfolio, The International Anthology of Contemporary Engraving: The International Avant-Garde, Vol. 5, America Discovered. Published in 1964, this was an illustrated book featuring works by some of the most prolific artists of the late twentieth-century.
Indiana had learnt printmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1949 - 1952. On a visit back to his alma mater a decade later, he found a box on the floor of copper plates made for printing Life magazine adverts. Intended as scrap for art students to practice on, Indiana selected a plate of an actress sitting on her bed, with an ironing board in the background and asked if he could use it. Only later, after having done six artist proofs at the school, did he add the characteristic, road sign-like stencilling along the bottom: 'ERR123'. A combination of etching and photoengraving, the self-professed 'American Painter of Signs' married the contemporary preoccupation with new technology with the advert-like aesthetic of Pop Art to produce this print.
Etching, 1963, on BFK Rives paper, signed in pencil, numbered 'E.A.', an artist's proof aside from the standard edition of 60, printed by Atelier Georges Leblanc, Paris, published by Galleria Schwarz, Milan, 25.2 x 19.2 cm. (10 x 7.6 in.)
Indiana had learnt printmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1949 - 1952. On a visit back to his alma mater a decade later, he found a box on the floor of copper plates made for printing Life magazine adverts. Intended as scrap for art students to practice on, Indiana selected a plate of an actress sitting on her bed, with an ironing board in the background and asked if he could use it. Only later, after having done six artist proofs at the school, did he add the characteristic, road sign-like stencilling along the bottom: 'ERR123'. A combination of etching and photoengraving, the self-professed 'American Painter of Signs' married the contemporary preoccupation with new technology with the advert-like aesthetic of Pop Art to produce this print.
Etching, 1963, on BFK Rives paper, signed in pencil, numbered 'E.A.', an artist's proof aside from the standard edition of 60, printed by Atelier Georges Leblanc, Paris, published by Galleria Schwarz, Milan, 25.2 x 19.2 cm. (10 x 7.6 in.)
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