A Fantastical ANimal Alphabet
5 October 2013 – 15 December 2013
This exhibition accompanied Curious Beasts: Animal Prints from the British Museum and drew inspiration from Enid Marx’s (Marco) Animal Alphabet creating A Fantastical Animal Alphabet of new original prints.
Marco’s Animal Alphabet, as it has become affectionately known, was first printed in 1979 and subsequently published as a book in 2000. The prints from the series were brought together for the first time in years as Compton Verney’s very own collection was married with the works held by Pallant House to mark the recent re-display of Marx’s Collection at Compton Verney. Highlights to the alphabet included O for Owl and R for rhino, the later providing an interesting comparison to Dürer’s rhino also on display.
About the
exhibition
A Fantastical Animal Alphabet took the exhibition Curious Beasts: Animal Prints from the British Museum and Marco’s linocuts as inspiration to present newly commissioned work by artists Kate Da’Casto, Gemma Wright, Sarah Kirby, Sally Hill, Alison D’Oyley, Peter Clayton, Sat Kalsi, Deborah Hopson-Wolpe, Soraya Smithson from Leicester Print Workshop, the centre for printmaking in the Midlands. Utilising a range of fine art printmaking techniques: linocut, screenprinting, lithography, etching, letterpress, artists produced a new animal alphabet of fantastical animals both real and imagined. Each of the newly commissioned letters of the alphabet was on display and hand-printed in a limited edition run of three, which made a rare gift or extra special Christmas present.
Award winning printer, Kate Da’Casto, from Leicester Print Workshop was Compton Verney’s artist-in-residence for the duration of the exhibition. Located in a pop-up studio in the gallery, she was sketching and preparing new work as well as talking about and demonstrating various printmaking techniques to visitors. Kate says “I love printmaking, it provides the artists with a magical box of tools and I look forward to sharing my experiences and enthusiasm with Compton Verney’s visitors. By doing so, I hope to add to their understanding of printmaking and their enjoyment of both exhibitions. On a personal level I know that my time amongst these wonderful works will inspire me to create a new body of prints, I can’t wait to see what unfolds.”
A Fantastical Animal Alphabet was presented by Compton Verney in collaboration with Leicester Print Workshop.
