The Two Friends
1966
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
etching, aquatint, and drypoint in black on Van Gelder simili-japan paper
Dimensions
image: 33 x 21.3 cm (13 x 8 3/8 in.) sheet: 65 x 47.9 cm (25 9/16 x 18 7/8 in.)
Classification
Portfolio
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dr. Anne Baruch in memory of Harry Wohl
Accession Number
1998.43.3
Art Historical Context
**The Two Friends**, a 1966 etching, aquatint, andpoint by Czech artist Jirí Bal, captures an intimate moment between two figures rendered in rich black ink on luxurious Van Gelder simili-Japan paper. Measuring 33 x 21.3 cm for the image and 65 x 47.9 cm for the full sheet, this print exemplifies mid-20th-century European graphic artistry. Balcar, a master printmaker, skillfully combined etching's precise lines (created by acid biting into a metal plate), aquint's velvety tones for subtle shading, and drypoint's expressive burr for soft, textured edges—techniques that allow for dramatic depth ...
About the Artist
Jirí Balcar
Jiří Balcar (1929–1968) was a Czech graphic artist, painter, illustrator, typographer, and poster designer whose brief career bridged socialist realism's constraints and emerging international modernism in postwar Czechoslovakia. Born in Kolín to physician Emilian Balcar, whose 1945 suicide profoundly impacted the young artist, Balcar graduated from Kolín Gymnasium in 1948. He briefly studied art ...