1163 - Child portrait, curly-haired child's head, beside it a nude child with a doll, original etching

Child portrait, curly-haired child's head, beside it a nude child with a doll, original etching Etching on paper, inscribed in pencil below the image at left “Orig.-Radierung / Handdruck”, signed in pencil at right, not deciphered. Child’s head in three-quarter view turned slightly to the left, the round face with wide-open eyes and small mouth, the hair in loose curls drawn with repeatedly outlined lines, the left ear uncovered; beside it, considerably smaller, a nude child in full figure seen from behind, also with a curly head, pulling a doll at its feet. The ground worked over with fine drypoint hatching, the plate mark clearly visible. Good condition, minimally stained. Image 14.5x13 cm (HxW), framed under mount behind glass, overall 31.5x27.5 cm (HxW). The child portrait is an etching, an intaglio process in which the drawing is worked into a metal plate and the printing ink sits in the recessed lines; when the print is pulled on dampened paper under the roller press, the edge of the plate is impressed into the sheet as the plate mark. In drypoint the steel needle scratches directly into the plate without etching, and the burr thrown up in the process retains ink, which gives a soft accompanying tone in the print; because the press gradually crushes this burr, only a few good impressions can be taken from such plates. The technique has been documented since the Housebook Master around 1480 and was used in the 20th century by Edvard Munch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann and Pablo Picasso, among others. The pencil inscription “Orig.-Radierung / Handdruck” (original etching / hand print) follows the custom of original printmaking: the artist makes the printing plate himself, pulls the impression by hand and signs the sheet in pencil, because a pencil signature is difficult to erase or alter.