Bronzen beeld van een boze geest 1883

Félix Hilaire Buhot made this bronze sculpture of an angry spirit using an intaglio printmaking technique. Buhot was clearly fascinated by the potential of printmaking to capture the texture and weight of bronze, even though the medium is, of course, entirely different. The intaglio process involves incising an image into a metal plate, which is then inked and pressed onto paper. The lines that hold the ink create a subtle relief effect, almost mimicking the three-dimensionality of the original sculpture. It's a labor-intensive process, requiring careful control of line and tone to convey the sculpture's form and detail. Buhot seems interested in how a print can offer a kind of ghostly presence of the original object. It’s not exactly there, but it’s not not there, either! In this way, he challenges the traditional hierarchy between sculpture and printmaking, suggesting that a print can be more than just a reproduction.