Pâques (Easter) 1936

Stanley William Hayter made this intaglio print, Pâques, or Easter, sometime in the mid-twentieth century. The networks of etched and engraved lines, resembling a swarm of tiny energetic marks, make the image look almost like it's vibrating. The cool thing about intaglio is how physical it is. Hayter would have used sharp tools to cut into a metal plate, creating grooves that hold the ink. When you look closely, you can see the dense, almost velvety blacks built up from cross-hatching, and the delicate, spidery lines that suggest form and movement. Take a look at the bottom of the image – what could that abstracted form be? For me it seems to suggest a kind of broken egg resting on a pile of straw, but the lines are loose and open enough that it could just as easily be something else entirely. Hayter’s work reminds me a little of Picasso’s etchings. Both artists share this raw, direct approach to line, pushing the medium to its limits. Ultimately, what I love about prints like this is their insistence on process and the beauty they find in embracing ambiguity.