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Palingenesis (B1)

Print
1998 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Kumi Korf grew up in Japan but now lives and works in the USA. She makes prints and artists’ books. In 1998 she began printing soft-ground etchings on Japanese paper, using a bookbinding tool called a bone folder to draw. Made of bone, it is pointed at one end and wide and flat at the other so that it can make a range of marks from fine lines to broad strokes.

Using this technique Korf made several prints entitled ‘Palingenesis’ (genesis re-created). These are strongly formalist but suggest the inspiration of cave painting. Korf quotes the lectures of the art critic Herbert Read on the caves of Altamira, in which he suggested that the human ability to survive and evolve as the highest form of life is connected to the capacity to make images.

Seen individually the prints are abstract but when placed side by side they assume the quality of landscape. The freedom of the lines suggests automatic writing but Korf is also influenced by the principles of Japanese calligraphy and her prints are often reminiscent of scroll paintings.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitlePalingenesis (B1) (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Soft-ground etching and aquatint on Japanese paper
Brief description
Palingenesis (BI), 1998. Print by Kumi Korf
Physical description
Portrait format oblong sheet of japanese paper with margins approx 6-7cm wide at top and bottom; overall greenish ground with abstract shapes of soft pastel-like lines and tone, like rock formations rising (above) and falling (below) from dividing line across centre of image.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 94cm
  • Sheet width: 50cm
  • Printed surface height: 80cm
  • Printed surface width: 50cm
Marks and inscriptions
'Korf '98. / Palingenesis B1' (Signature; date; title. All inscribed in pencil)
Credit line
Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund
Production
One of a pair of prints titled Palingenesis. The other print is E.3738-2004. This pair may also be displayed as a triptych with E. 3736-2004.
Subject depicted
Summary
Kumi Korf grew up in Japan but now lives and works in the USA. She makes prints and artists’ books. In 1998 she began printing soft-ground etchings on Japanese paper, using a bookbinding tool called a bone folder to draw. Made of bone, it is pointed at one end and wide and flat at the other so that it can make a range of marks from fine lines to broad strokes.

Using this technique Korf made several prints entitled ‘Palingenesis’ (genesis re-created). These are strongly formalist but suggest the inspiration of cave painting. Korf quotes the lectures of the art critic Herbert Read on the caves of Altamira, in which he suggested that the human ability to survive and evolve as the highest form of life is connected to the capacity to make images.

Seen individually the prints are abstract but when placed side by side they assume the quality of landscape. The freedom of the lines suggests automatic writing but Korf is also influenced by the principles of Japanese calligraphy and her prints are often reminiscent of scroll paintings.
Associated objects
Collection
Accession number
E.3737-2004

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Record createdOctober 1, 2005
Record URL
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