No title, Circa 1990

James Coignard  

A powerful example of James Coignard's mature graphic language, this hand-coloured carborundum etching combines the artist's signature bold geometry with rich tactile depth. A sweeping diagonal of deep crimson cuts across a weathered, layered ground of grey and white, anchored by stencilled letterforms and a punctuation of ochre yellow below. The composition is mounted on torn handmade paper with a vivid red border, blurring the line between print and object.

Coignard's carborundum technique - introduced to him by his friend Henri Goetz in the late 1960s - allowed him to build up surfaces of remarkable texture and colour weight, closer to painting than traditional etching. Each impression in this numbered edition carries individual hand-applied colour, making no two works identical.

This work was acquired directly from the artist in connection with an exhibition at Galleri Scandinavia, Gothenburg, where Coignard exhibited on several occasions.

Coignard's work is held in over 20 museum collections internationally, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.

Pencil signed lower right. Numbered 35/40 lower left. Unframed.