Untitled (From Ten in Black and White portfolio)
Artist
Ellen Phelan
(American, born 1943)
Date1972
MediumCliché-verre
DimensionsPaper Size: 20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineGift of Aris Koutroulis, 2011
Object numberUAC5294
DescriptionTen In Black and White print portfolioCliché-verre, a printmaking technique developed in the 1830s — around the time of the earliest photography — is essentially a photographic process, minus the camera. Its practitioners have used a variety of methods and materials over the years, but the original, most basic method is to coat a glass plate with an opaque ground of paint or soot, then etch a drawing into the ground; this negative plate is then placed onto photo-sensitive paper and exposed to light to create the printed image. Though never as popular as other, more practical and predictable printing methods, artists from Corot and Delacroix to Max Ernst and Man Ray experimented with cliché-verre, and variations on the technique have been used by a number of contemporary creators. One of these later experimenters, Caroline Durieux, was part of a revival of cliché-verre in the 1950s; one of her students was Aris Koutroulis, co-founder of the Willis Gallery, who in turn taught the technique at Wayne State University.
In 1972, Koutroulis supervised the printing of Ten in Black and White, a portfolio of prints by Detroit artists that is said to be the first suite of cliché-verre prints ever produced. The portfolio comprises work by a spectrum of Cass Corridor stalwarts, called by DIA assistant curator Frank Kolbert in his introduction to the portfolio, “the very best in this community.” Kolbert notes that the prints “do not represent a ‘Detroit esthetic.’ There is no clear, defined esthetic, local to Detroit, which they could represent.” Perhaps eager to position Detroit artists on a larger stage, Kolbert instead claims the prints address universal themes of interest to artists around the world.
The images in the portfolio run the gamut, from a collage of comic book-like illustrations of nude pin-up girls by Bradley Jones to the austere rectangular fields and clip-art filigree of Georg Ettl. James Chatelain’s print, featuring interwoven brushstrokes forming geometric patterns, is similar to his large abstract paintings, while John Egner’s horizontal-and-vertical brushstrokes are wide, juicy, and translucent. Steve Foust’s image could be a lunar landscape, and Michael Luchs’ print evokes the monolithic head of an ancient idol, trimmed around the neck in masking tape. Koutroulis’ contribution resembles a cross section of marbled stone, or the rings of a tree, and seems to have been made by manipulating the emulsion layer on a sheet of photographic film. (Some of his teacher Durieux’s more abstract cliché-verre prints have a similar look, like gauzy fabric bunched up and folded upon itself.) Gordon Newton’s image is a scattering of fragmented marks and lines, surrounding a crude figure or face that might be made from a stone (or a potato) and jagged bits of glass; the shards point out at the words “BLACKSTRAP VENUS” hovering vertically to one side. In contrast, Ellen Phelan’s mysterious print features a soft-focus, ghostly bottle floating above a wide triangle of what looks like patterned fabric. Cynthia Boyd Rush’s print looks even more ephemeral, a series of small holes, sometimes ragged around the edges and sometimes blurry, torn into the emulsion to let the light through. Wayne State’s copy of this unique portfolio, donated to the university by Koutroulis, is the ninth of an edition of 50.
