Edition 60, Retif and Salzer 32. Signed, titled, and numbered 54/60 in pencil.
Image size 11 x 15 13/16 inches (279 x 402 mm); sheet size 14 3/16 x 18 1/2 inches.
A superb, richly-inked and tonally nuanced impression, on cream wove paper; the full sheet with margins (1/14 to 1 5/8 inches), in excellent condition. Scarce.
Printed by master lithographer George C. Miller.
ABOUT THIS WORK
Rarely seen—the scarcity of this work suggests that much of the edition may have been lost or destroyed. The Retif and Salzer catalogue raisonné illustrates the lithograph with a copy of a printed reproduction—the editors apparently unable to locate an original impression to photograph.
“At this Sheffield plant in Houston, a crane with a magnet picks up scrap steel and drops it into a furnace. Electrodes are lowered onto the metal and electricity is used to generate enormous heat to melt 85-100 tons of steel. The molten steel is put into a ladle and as it is poured into ingot molds, aluminum is added to keep the steel from bubbling. Eventually, the aluminum is burned off.” —Jackson Lee Nesbitt, The Graphic Work, Stone and Press Galleries, 1993.
