Seria Neagra 1, 1998
lift-ground aquatint, drypoint, black ink on Arches paper
120.0
x 80.0
cm
signed and dated ‘ACT 98’ (lower left) and inscribed ‘Seria Neagra I/ T/P’ (lower left)
Provenance
The artist
Private collection, Sydney
Another work from this edition is in the collections of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra and the University of New South Wales, Sydney.
"In 1986 Tomescu was invited to work at the Victorian Print Workshop, Melbourne, founded by master printer John Loane, for three weeks. Loane was an early supporter of Tomescu’s and encouraged her to try printmaking. During the 1990s, Tomescu worked closely with Loane to produce several series of etching and aquatints, culminating in the Seria Neagra series of 1998-99. The four works of this series are amongst Tomescu’s largest and most dramatic prints. Her gestural mark-making conveys movement and compressed energy while the deep blackness of the ink creates a stark contrast with the paper support. The material and philosophical suggestions of transition embodied within these works is extended in their title, Seria neagra which translated from Romanian, reads as ‘Black series’. (http://exhibitions.library.unsw.edu.au/the-view-from-here/aida-tomescu)
Image courtesy of the artist