Altamira Cave best Artist, Peaceful Bullfighter Etching

In 2008 I visited my daughter in Spain. I was disturbed by the cruelty of the 'sport' of bullfighting, but enchanted by the outfits. In this etching I envision a scenario in which the torero renounces the bullfight, and instead celebrates the beauty of the bull in art. I used two plates for this print; one which has the torero, and the other which shows an image of a bull from the famed Altamira Cave in Spain.

You can see two different etching techniques at work here: the torero plate is drawn and etched using “hard ground” which produces crisp lines. The bulls are drawn using “soft ground” which is a more mercurial best process, but produces a mark more akin to pencil or charcoal. You can also see that I have rolled a transparent red ink over the plate, and wiped some off with a rag.

Image size: 6 x 4 in.
Paper size: 11 x 9.5 in.

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