The Black Vase
Stan Washburn, American, born 1943
1978
Etching on Wove Paper
Edition 51/120
Image: 17 5/8 × 19 15/16 in. (44.8 × 50.6 cm)
Sheet: 21 1/16 × 24 in. (53.5 × 61 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of the Estate of Colonel John L. Ames Jr., Class of 1916
PR.985.30.53
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
20th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Label
The title of this piece refers to the vase, which is set off from a background of floral printed fabric. In this abundant display of fruit and flowers, printmaker Stan Washburn encourages us to look closer at the interplay of light and shadow. Every line of this print was etched into a copper plate and then printed on paper, an impressive feat of skill that has earned Washburn the moniker “San Francisco’s finest 16th-century artist.” Washburn’s abilities recall famous European printmakers like Albrecht Dürer.
From the 2024 exhibition Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, curated by Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art
Course History
English 39.01, American Fiction: 1950-1990, Kimberly Brown, Winter 2025
Italian 1.01, Introductory Italian I, Floriana Ciniglia, Spring 2025
Spanish 3.01, Spanish III, Natalia Monetti, Spring 2025
Spanish 3.02, Spanish III, Natalia Monetti, Spring 2025
Anthropology 31.01, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 36.01, Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives, Sabrina Billings, Fall 2025
Studio Session: Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025
Special Tour: Attitude of Coexistence and Beyond the Bouquet, Winter 2025
Exhibition History
Beyond the Bouquet: Arranging Flowers in American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 25-September 20, 2025.
Provenance
Colonel John Lincoln Ames, Jr. (1895-1996), Bethesda, Maryland; given to present collection, 1985.
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