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Étoile
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Étoile Dated 1986
  • Scottish Art
This etching belongs to a series of portraits Bellany made that return to the imagery of Port Seton, the small fishing community where he grew up, and the sea. Many of them are linked to his second wife, Juliet, and her death in 1985. Here we see a portrait of Juliet with what appears to be a crustacean of some form, possibly a lobster, on her head. Sea creatures feature heavily in Bellany?s oeuvre as he exploits their symbolic attributes. `Etoile?, is French for star, perhaps a reference to Juliet?s untimely death.

Glossary Open

Etching

A form of printmaking in which a metal plate is covered with a substance called a 'ground', usually wax, into which an image is drawn with a needle. Acid is applied, eroding the areas of the plate exposed but not the areas covered by wax. The action of the acid creates lines in the metal plate that hold the ink from which a print is made when the plate is pressed against paper under pressure.

Etching

Details

  • Acc. No. GMA 2998
  • Medium Etching on paper (3/25)
  • Size 33.20 x 24.50 cm (paper 53.60 x 37.70 cm)
  • Credit Purchased 1986

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Scottish Art