Catalogue entry
[FROM] Reaper d, e, g, h, i and j 1949 [P07648-P07653; incomplete]
Six etchings from a series of 16, printed by the artist at the Slade School of Art in small editions of varying trial proofs.
Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1982
Lit: Richard Hamilton Richard Hamilton Prints 1939–1983 1984, nos.23, 24 and 26 to 29 respectively, all repr. pp.25–8
P07651 Reaper h
Drypoint and roulette 6 3/4×9 3/4 (171 × 247) on paper 11 × 15 1/8 (280 × 385)
Inscribed ‘R Hamilton’ b.r. and ‘8/20’ and on the back ‘Reaper (h)’ and ‘REAPER 3gns’ and ‘(7)’
Hamilton had already made nearly 20 etchings when he began to experiment with the mechanical imagery provided by a reaping machine in order to test the depictive possibilities of the medium and the individual characters of the marks it would produce in a far more conscious way. ‘The “Reaper” series was inspired by Giedeon's Mechanization Takes Command. Repetition of the simple contrasting forms of the agricultural machine provided material for investigating the technical resources at the Slade School. The “variations” were shown at Gimpels a year after their execution’ (Hamilton, p.23)… (read more)
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