Quai de Gare

Train Platform (English translation)

Etching, drypoint and aquatint, printed in bluish-black ink on Reina wove paper.
Edition of 30.
Signed, titled, dated and numbered in pencil.

NOTE: The first image you see on this page is a detail of a larger work. To see the overall composition, please scroll to the other image(s).

"DETAILS EXHIBIT" NOTE:
There is something immediate about Hélène Bautista’s compositions when she uses the intaglio medium. It is almost like she is glimpsing a moment as she rides by on her bike or passes someone in the hallway and captures it in print. But her work is nothing short of exquisitely deliberate, and Quai de Gare certainly fits that bill. The detail section we are focusing on is the lamppost on the train platform. The fine drypoint lines that detail and shade the lamp are spare and exacting, while the light shining from the lamp is reflecting on the snow in soft globes created by density of aquatint that looks almost accidental. But as you step back and look at the complete composition, you can see that light, from seemingly multiple sources, is reflecting on the swirling snow. The ability to use aquatint marks to appear random but to perfectly capture this subtle effect is one of the many reasons we are in awe of Bautista’s work.