This image by Mario Avati (born 1921) is from Noah’s Ark, published in New York by Aquarius in 1971 in 100 copies and comprising ten mezzotint illustrations. The artist exploits the blackness of mezzotint for depicting owls and night-time. Scholar Walter Strachan (1903-1994) described Avati as the greatest living practitioner of mezzotint. Avati produced work in several printing techniques, and was a member of La Jeune Gravure, a group of artists who sought to encourage the development of skills in all techniques of printing. He won the Prix de la Critique for engraving in 1957. He began experimenting with mezzotint in February 1950 in a small format and produced his first major book Chimera, published by Les Impenitents, Paris, in 1955. For this book, which was written by Lewis Carroll on the subject of taking photographs, Avati made witty illustrations which parodied photographic subjects and poses.

Invented in Germany in 1642, mezzotint was most widely used in England in the 18th century for reproducing paintings. As a tone process it is ideal for showing deep tonal ranges from white to black. A rocker is used to cover the copper or steel plate with close furrows crossing in various directions to produce a fine network of lines to hold the ink. The artist scrapes it down to reduce the amount of ink that can be held, working therefore from dark to light and in tone rather than line.

Poet and scholar Walter Strachan (1903-1994) was fascinated by the art of the book. His interest was inspired by a visit to an exhibition of artists’ books at the National Gallery in London in May 1945. In due course he wrote many articles on the subject, as well as a major reference work, The Artist and the Book in France (published 1969); he also encouraged successive Keepers of the National Art Library at the V&A “to buy them for England.” To this end he visited France every year, to meet the artists, and acquired proof pages to illustrate his articles and to show to potential purchasers of the books, including the V&A. Over the years he amassed a collection of images of owls; some of these were illustrations from livres d’artistes, and others were designed especially for him as gifts or greetings. The collection of owls began with a visit to the artist Roger Chastel (1897-1981) in 1952, where he witnessed the printing of Le Bestiaire de Paul Eluard. In a subsequent article (“Genesis and Growth of a Collection”, for Connoisseur, 1972) he explained: “My article on Chastel’s Bestiaire had the happy result of bringing me a special print on Auvergne paper of the owl which I had admired in the book. Contacts in the art-world of Paris are close and friendly, and I was marked down as an owl-man, in consequence of which I have gradually been given dedicated owl prints and originals in every medium from pen and ink to enamel…” Strachan owned a copy of the book Noah's Ark, to which this is an illustration.