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21 Etchings and Poems

1960
(American, 1897–1987)
(American, 1900–1983)
(American, 1916–1994)
(American, 1911–1955)
(British, 1894–1978)
(American, 1903–2001)
(American, 1913–1980)
(American, 1910–1962)
(American, 1913-)
(American, 1913–1995)
(American, 1902–1971)
(French, born in Lithuania, 1891–1973)
(American, 1912–1995)
(American, 1905–1984)
(American, 1902–1993)
(American, 1903–1981)
(American, 1912–2002)
(Belgian, 1927-)
(American, 1921-)
(British, 1901–1988)
(American, 1904–1997)
Belgium, 20th century
etching and aquatint
John L. Severance Fund 1994.163
Location: not on view
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.

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Description

Was it snowing?--- When she gave me this little bit of snow, the sun was hiding so that nothing of our meeting should melt, so that the fire between us would light without any help, only through our warmth, for want of our silence, and from elsewhere. This print was commissioned as part of an artist's book called 21 Etchings and Poems. At the time of its creation, the book was the most significant collaboration between artists and poets in America. Here, Pierre Alechinsky and artist and poet Christian Dotremont demonstrate the collaborative spirit of COBRA. Alechinsky wrote Dotremont's poem in his own handwriting and signed the names of both artists to the plate. Alechinsky's etching, showing a round flea-like animal, is surrounded by an abstract background of flowing lines that seem to anticipate an artistic form later invented by Dotremont: the logogram. Logograms were beautifully calligraphic artworks that abstracted the written word, often to the point of illegibility, in order to challenge the frontier between painting and writing.
21 Etchings and Poems

21 Etchings and Poems

1960

Ben-Zion, Adja Yunkers, Andre Racz, Attilio Salemme, Ben Nicholson, Esteban Vicente, Ezio Martinelli, Franz Kline, Fred Becker, Helen Phillips, Irene Rice Pereira, Jacques Lipchitz, Karl Schrag, Kurt Roesch, Letterio Calapai, Louis Schanker, Peter Grippe, Pierre Alechinsky, Salvatore Grippi, Stanley William Hayter, Willem de Kooning

(American, 1897–1987), (American, 1900–1983), (American, 1916–1994), (American, 1911–1955), (British, 1894–1978), (American, 1903–2001), (American, 1913–1980), (American, 1910–1962), (American, 1913-), (American, 1913–1995), (American, 1902–1971), (French, born in Lithuania, 1891–1973), (American, 1912–1995), (American, 1905–1984), (American, 1902–1993), (American, 1903–1981), (American, 1912–2002), (Belgian, 1927-), (American, 1921-), (British, 1901–1988), (American, 1904–1997)
Belgium, 20th century

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