Gimmick
1970
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
blind embossed intaglio on wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 55.25 × 44.77 cm (21 3/4 × 17 5/8 in.) sheet: 78.74 × 55.88 cm (31 × 22 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Harry Lunn, Jr.)
Accession Number
2015.19.2525
Art Historical Context
Juan Downey’s 1970 print “Gimmick” invites viewers to consider the quiet power of texture and absence. Created through blind embossed intaglio, the work uses a metal plate to press a raised design intoove paper without any ink. The result is an image that reveals itself only through shifting light and the gentle topography of the sheet, turning the act of looking into a tactile experience. In the early 1970s, many artists were questioning traditional media and the need for color or narrative. Downey’s choice of an uninked intaglio process strips the print to its essentials—pressure, paper, an...