Falling Figure
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View on museum website →Medium
engraving an softground etching in black with color screenprint on wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 45 x 37.8 cm (17 11/16 x 14 7/8 in.) sheet: 65.1 x 51.4 cm (25 5/8 x 20 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams
Accession Number
2008.115.2398
Art Historical Context
**Falling Figure** by Stanley William Hayter1947) captures a dynamic sense of motion and abstraction in a masterful print from the National Gallery of Art's Reba and Dave Williams Collection Measuring 45 x 37.8 cm on its plate, this work on wove paper blends engraving and soft-ground etching—techniques Hayter championed for their expressive line quality—with bold color added through screenprinting. The result is a layered, textured image of a tumbling form, evoking surrealist energy amid post-World War II introspection. Hayter, a British innovator who founded Paris's influential Atelier 17 wo...
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 ...