Harvard Art Museums > M25928: Two Poems with Birds Prints Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Two Poems with Birds (Fred Becker) , M25928,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 27, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/71862. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number M25928 People Fred Becker, American (Oakland, CA 1913 - 2004 Amherst, MA) Title Two Poems with Birds Other Titles Series/Book Title: Valentines to the Wide Woeld, Poems, by Mona Van Duyn Classification Prints Work Type print Date 1959 Culture American Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/71862 Physical Descriptions Medium Softground etching with stopout, printed in relief Technique Relief print Dimensions block: 17.6 x 9.8 cm (6 15/16 x 3 7/8 in.) Inscriptions and Marks Signed: Fred Becker inscription: lower margin below block edge, to left and right, graphite (two kinds), hand written, signed, in artist's hand: "Two Poems with Birds" Fred Becker [signature evidently applied at a different time, since the graphite is different] Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Susan Teller Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, January 13, 2004, Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, George R. Nutter Fund Copyright © 1954 Fred Becker Accession Year 2004 Object Number M25928 Division Modern and Contemporary Art Contact am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu Permissions The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description This print was published late in the artist's life, but the dealer from whom it was purchased says that this is an earlier proof impression. While described by the dealer as a woodcut, it is almost certainly a relief cut in a homogeneous (rather than grained) substance, and even with this more precise identification, it presents certain mysteries. How did the artist impose the texture on the block that results in the gray background tone? Why do the cuts that form the black-printing "plateaus" not inflect the grain in the same way that the pressure along the tool stroke that formed the white strokes did? Etc. The technique is mysterious but the composition delightful, and an excellent representative of the developing mode of abstraction in American art in the 1950s. Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
