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Naum Gabo 1890-1977P02007 Opus 8 c.1969
Inscribed 'Gabo' b.r.
Wood engraving, 12 x 9 3/4 (30.5 x 23.8) on paper 22 x 15 5/8 (55.8 x 39.8)
Presented by the artist 1971
Lit: Michael Mazur, 'The Monoprints of Naum Gabo' in Print Collector's Newsletter, IX, No.5, 1978, p.151
This print was presented as 'Opus 7', but according to Michael Mazur its correct title is 'Opus 8'. 'There are 25 untitled but signed proofs', he writes, 'as well as 16 others, many with the title Opus 7 on them; of these, five are dated February, 1970'. It would seem therefore that Gabo later decided to change the number, presumably because he wished to change its sequence in the portfolio. Gabo could not remember its exact date, but it appears to have been made some time between April 1968 and February 1970 (when the proofs just mentioned were inscribed), as he commented in a letter of 28 April 1968, when giving information about his previous prints 'Opus 1-6' [P02001-6]: 'Since then I have not had the time to do any more engraving or printing'.
Mazur adds that at least two drawings have been found for this image, including one the exact size which has been cut for use as a template or stencil. (The other is T02164 in the Tate's own collection). The example Gabo selected for his sample set contains a central dot. 'Otherwise, most of the variation is in the colour printing, which gets more elaborate in some of these proofs than in any of the other designs.'
Published in:
Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.265-6, reproduced p.265
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