Wood engraving on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Opus 8
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/naum-gabo-1137" aria-label="More by Naum Gabo" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Naum Gabo</a>
Presented by the artist 1971
abstraction
geometric
irregular forms
non-representational
paper print wood engraving
25 January 2020 – 3 May 2020
2020-05-03
25 January 2020 – 3 May 2020
2020-05-03
2020-01-25
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2020-01-25
Naum Gabo: Realistic Manifesto
Exhibition
[no title]
image: 303 × 239 mm
Presented by the artist 1971
<strong>Naum Gabo</strong> 1890-1977
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<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/gabo-no-title-p02007" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P02007</span></a> <strong>Opus 8</strong> <em>c</em>.1969
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Inscribed 'Gabo' b.r.<br/>
Wood engraving, 12 x 9 3/4 (30.5 x 23.8) on paper 22 x 15 5/8 (55.8 x 39.8)<br/>
Presented by the artist 1971<br/>
<em>Lit:</em> Michael Mazur, 'The Monoprints of Naum Gabo' in <em>Print Collector's Newsletter</em>, IX, No.5, 1978, p.151
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This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> was presented as 'Opus 7', but according to Michael Mazur its correct title is 'Opus 8'. 'There are 25 untitled but signed proofs', he writes, 'as well as 16 others, many with the title <em>Opus 7</em> on them; of these, five are dated February, 1970'. It would seem therefore that Gabo later decided to change the number, presumably because he wished to change its sequence in the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portfolio" title="Glossary definition for 'Portfolio'"><span>portfolio</span></a>. Gabo could not remember its exact date, but it appears to have been made some time between April 1968 and February 1970 (when the proofs just mentioned were inscribed), as he commented in a letter of 28 April 1968, when giving information about his previous prints 'Opus 1-6' [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/P02001" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'P02001');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>P02001</span></a>-6]: 'Since then I have not had the time to do any more <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/engraving" title="Glossary definition for 'Engraving'"><span>engraving</span></a> or printing'.
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Mazur adds that at least two <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> have been found for this image, including one the exact size which has been cut for use as a template or stencil. (The other is <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="/art/artworks/T02164" onclick="popTateObjects(event, -1, 'T02164');" title="View details of this artwork"><span>T02164</span></a> in the Tate's own collection). The example Gabo selected for his sample set contains a central dot. 'Otherwise, most of the variation is in the colour printing, which gets more elaborate in some of these proofs than in any of the other designs.'
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<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.265-6, reproduced p.265

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Catalogue entry
2004-09-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction geometric irregular forms non-representational