Observatory is a wood-engraving created in 2005 by American printmaker Richard Wagener (born 1944). It is pencil signed, dated, and editioned 5/8. Observatory was printed by the artist on a sheet of ivory Twinrocker wove paper and the image measures 5 x 3 inches. Of note in regards to his wood-engraving technique is Wagener’s exclusive use of single-line as opposed to multiple-line carving tools, meaning that each line is carved individually.
Observatory is one of four wood-engravings that Wagener used to illustrate his stories of growing up in Southern California in his self-published (Mixolydian Editions) book of 2006, Cracked Sidewalks. This is the Palomar Observatory, an astronomical research observatory in northern San Diego County, California, that was built atop Palomar Mountain. Palomar Observatory has been at the forefront of astronomical research since the mid-20th century.
Richard Wagener was born in Texicana, Arkansas in 1944. He grew up in southern California, spending time with his grandfather in remote parts of the desert and up in the Sierra mountain range. Early art classes introduced him to Maynard Dixon and Edgar Payne and his after-school activities included selling the evening newspapers at the Disney studios, where he met many of the illustrators and animators. Wagener studied biology at the University of San Diego and earned an M.F.A. in painting from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.
In 2006, Wagener established the imprint Mixolydian Editions for his own fine press projects. He collaborated with David Pascoe of Nawakum Press, Santa Rosa, California, co-publishing three fine press books, one of which, Loom, earned the 2016 Carl Hertzog Award for Excellence in Book Design. Wagener has also produced a number of engraved bookplates that have been collected internationally. He designed the logo for the XXVII FISAE Congress held in Boston in 2000. His bookplates have been featured in Print Magazine; “Contemporary Ex-Libris Artists,” an article by James Keenan, that was published in Portugal in 2003; California Bookplates by Robert Dickover, published by the Book Club of California in 2006; and Three Centuries of the American Bookplate by James Goode, the catalog accompanying a show of bookplates at the University of Virginia from 2010.
A notable American wood engraver, Wagener's works are held in over 100 public collections in the United States and England. He was awarded the Oscar Lewis Award for contributions to the book arts.
