Chinese Circus
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View on museum website →Medium
color engraving and softground etching
Dimensions
plate: 49.5 × 39.8 cm (19 1/2 × 15 11/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Cole Kainen
Accession Number
2012.92.99
Art Historical Context
Stanley William Hayter's *Chinese Circus* (197) is a vibrant color engraving and softground etching, measuring 49.5 × 39.8 cm, now housed in the National Gallery of Art as a gift from Ruth Cole Kainen. Created late in the pioneering British printmaker's career (1901–1988), this work exemplifies Hayter's lifelong dedication to pushing the boundaries of intaglio printmaking. Founder of the influential Atelier 17 workshop in Paris, Hayter collaborated with Surrealists and modernists, developing techniques like viscosity etching that allowed multiple colors to be printed simultaneously without ste...
About the Artist
Stanley William Hayter
Stanley William Hayter (1901–1988), born in Hackney, London, to painter and sign-maker William Harry Hayter, initially pursued a scientific career, earning a degree in chemistry and geology from King's College London. He worked as a research chemist for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in Abadan, Iran, from 1922 to 1925, painting portraits of colleagues in his spare time; an exhibition of these upon ...