Palingenesis
Print
2001 (made)
2001 (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.
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 | |
| Title | Palingenesis (series title) |
| Materials and techniques | Soft-ground etching on Japanese paper |
| Brief description | Untitled print from the Palingenesis series, by Kumi Korf, United states (2001). |
| Physical description | 0blong of japanese paper. in the centre, a steeply triangular but irregular shape, darker than surrounding areas, filled in with soft, chalky, pastel-like lines in black or grey. It is wider on the left and narrower at the right side of the sheet. Above this shape, from a line dividing the centre of the sheet, the ground is a plain, greenish grey; below, the ground is a greyer colour and covered with brown, irregualr lines- suggesting automatic writing or chinese or japanese script. The paper is printed to the edges from top to bottom but with margins showing the cream coloured paper on the left and right. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'Kumi Korf 2001.' (Signature; date. In pencil) |
| Credit line | Given by the artist |
| Production | The artist has worked on several series of prints titled 'Palingenesis'. Although E.3737 and E.3738-2004 were originally conceived as a part of a suite of four, most of the prints from the various sets are interchangeable. Thus, although E.3736-2004 was printed in 2001, it may be hung together with E.3737 and E.3738 to make an ensemble. |
| 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 |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | E.3736-2004 |
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| Record created | December 4, 2005 |
| Record URL |
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