Ivor Abrahams
First State of 'Works Past I'
© Ivor Abrahams
Ivor Abrahams 1935–2015
Etching on paper
Image: 276 × 202 mm
Presented by Evelyne Abrahams, the artist's wife 1986
Group of ninety-eight screenprints, lithographs and etchings, various sizes [P11099-P11196; incomplete]
This group of prints was bequeathed to Evelyne Abrahams by the artist's parents, Harry and Rachel Abrahams, on the understanding that she would present it to the Tate Gallery on their behalf. It represents the greater part of the artist's printmaking to date. Other works by Abrahams in the collection are a sculpture entitled 'Lady in a Niche', 1973 (T03369), a work on paper entitled 'Winter Sundial', 1975 (T02330), and a small number of prints: 'The Garden Suite', 1970 (P04001-P04005), 'Sundial I (Summer)', 1975 (P07384) and 'Untitled' [from the artist's book Oxford Gardens: A Sketchbook], 1977 (P08150).
Abrahams is primarily a sculptor, and many of his prints relate to particular sculptures. In the period 1967–79 Abrahams focused on garden imagery, exploring the relationship between art, artifice and nature. Many of the images used in early prints were based on small, relatively poor quality photographs of gardens reproduced in gardening magazines, such as the weekly Amateur Gardening and Popular Gardening, or, less frequently, better quality illustrations found in the series of volumes on gardens published by Country Life in the 1920s. This use of second-hand source material gives much of his printed output a conceptual quality, and links his work to Pop art. Abrahams has presented a large amount of source material relating to his printmaking of this period, including magazine clippings, photographs and sketches and acetate stencils, to the Tate Gallery Archive (TGA 8315).
The critical and commercial success of 'The Garden Suite' (P04001-P040054), published in 1970, helped establish Abrahams' name internationally, and in the following decade he went on to produce a significant body of prints, making approximately one print a month. The dealer Bernard Jacobson published many of his portfolios, and the Mayor Gallery organised a series of touring shows of prints and sculptures. In this period Abrahams was based in London, working at a studio in Leonard Street, EC2, from 1969 to 1982, and at the A & A Foundry in Bow from 1982 to 1992, with a second studio at Butler's Wharf from 1974 to 1979.
In 1979 Abrahams abandoned the garden theme for which he had become well known and focused instead on water-based imagery, using bathers and nymphs which were inspired in part by the landscape, myths and folk customs associated with the South of France. Abrahams and his French wife bought a home in Pézenas, in the Languedoc, in 1973, where he used the cellar as a studio. In 1988 they bought a house in the small village, Castelnau de Guers, in the same region, and have lived there on a full-time basis since 1992.
Unless otherwise stated, all quotations by the artist in the following entries are taken from a taped interview with the compiler held on 18 August 1994. The entries have been approved by the artist.
[from] Four States of 'Works Past I' 1976 [P11131-P11134]
Four etchings on wove paper, various sizes; printed by the artist
P11131 First State of 'Works Past I' 1976
Etching 276 × 202 (10 7/8 × 8) on wove paper 402 × 300 (15 3/4 × 11 3/4)
Inscribed 'Ivor Abrahams 76' below image b.r. and '1st State' below image b.l.
Printed in black, these prints show the different stages involved in making the final print with its image of a stone bench partly covered with plant growth. The numbered sequence shows the steady evolution of the image. P11131 has some brown accidental staining around the image. Fingerprints can be seen in P11133.
These proofs were printed by the artist at his home in Pézenas, France, before the plate was given for professional printing to J.C. Editions. In conversation Abrahams acknowledged that he had not been very expert in preparing the plates, but felt that, in comparison with the editioned print (P11126, see earlier entry), his final state (P11134) had a richer tonality and more of the desired effect of relief.
Tate Gallery: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions 1986-88, London 1996
townscapes / man-made features(21,710)
wall(630)
artifice(96)
plants and flowers(2,727)
ivy(56)
fine art and design, named works(6,078)
Abrahams, Ivor, sculpture, 'Bronze Wall'(5)
Ivor Abrahams Second State of 'Works Past I'
Ivor Abrahams Fourth State of 'Works Past I'
Ivor Abrahams Third State of 'Works Past I'
Ivor Abrahams Works Past I
Ivor Abrahams Works Past II
Ivor Abrahams Works Past III
Ivor Abrahams Works Past V
Ivor Abrahams Works Past IV
Ivor Abrahams Hollyhocks
Ivor Abrahams Rose Trees
Ivor Abrahams Femme du Midi VI
Ivor Abrahams Sunflowers
Ivor Abrahams Pathways I
Ivor Abrahams Hydrangeas
Ivor Abrahams Femme du Midi III