Etching on paper
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/leon-kossoff-1436" aria-label="More by Leon Kossoff" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Leon Kossoff</a>
Bacchanal before a Herm 2
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
adults
architecture
Bacchanalia
Bacchante
cherub
classical myths: events, themes
classical myths: gods and heroes
dance
fine art and design, named works
landscape
leisure and pastimes
man
monuments
music and entertainment
objects
Pan
people
Poussin, Nicolas, painting, ‘A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term of Pan’
religion and belief
statue
universal religious imagery
woman
wooded
<p>This print is one of many etchings executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil paintings by old masters; in this case <i>Bacchanal Before a Herm</i>, 1632-3 (National Gallery, London) by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). Tate owns two prints by Kossoff after this Poussin painting (Tate P11687-8). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making drawings and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings. Tate owns an artist’s proof.</p>
paper print etching
Bacchanal before a Herm (2)
image: 299 × 420 mm
Presented by Peter and Liz Goulds 1999
<p>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> is one of many <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/etching" title="Glossary definition for 'Etching'"><span>etchings</span></a> executed by Leon Kossoff in response to, and literally in the presence of, oil <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/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> by old masters; in this case <i>Bacchanal Before a Herm</i>, 1632-3 (National Gallery, London) by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). Tate owns two prints by Kossoff after this Poussin painting (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kossoff-bacchanal-before-a-herm-1-p11687" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11687</span></a>-8). The artist’s ability to explore a number of separate responses while making <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> and prints from a single subject is illustrated in these etchings.  Tate owns an artist’s <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/proof" title="Glossary definition for 'Proof'"><span>proof</span></a>.
<br/>
<br/>In the Poussin painting Arcadian revellers drink and dance before a herm - a  square pillar crowned with a torso and head - of an ancient god, here either Pan or Priapus, both associated with fertility, rustic dance and drunkenness. The dancing figures, despite their frantic activity, have been carefully posed to form a structured, flowing design. Kossoff distilled the principal figures in Poussin’s <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> into a spare, linear structure. The delicately etched plate was uniformly inked with a red-brown colour. There is a strong sense of movement in the work engendered by the way the etched marks move around the plate. Kossoff’s print does not compete with Poussin’s painting, nor does it seek to transcribe, copy or paraphrase it. Rather, it acknowledges the gulf that separates it from the pictorial culture of former times and reveals his desire to find points of contact with his forerunner. Kossoff has described the value of this kind of draughtsmanship as a means to building up an acquaintance with the subject or, in his words, ‘getting into’ a picture made by another artist until he feels free to ‘move about in its imaginative spaces’ (Kendall, p.19).
<br/>
<br/>Kossoff has described the moment of intense elation, which occurred some forty years ago, when he first established a vital connection with Poussin’s art. As a youth and then as a student in London, he had become familiar with the rich historical collections of the National Gallery. On one particular day there he had a transformative experience while looking at Poussin’s <i>Cephalus and Aurora</i>
(1629-30):
<br/></p>
<p>It seemed as though I was experiencing the work for the first time. I suppose there is a difference between looking and experiencing. Paintings of this quality, in which the subject is endlessly glowing with luminosity, can, in an unexpected moment, surprise the viewer, revealing unexplored areas of self. </p>
<p align="right">(Kendall, p.19)
<br/></p>
<p>The recent prints made by Kossoff after paintings by Poussin therefore emerge from almost half a century of involvement in the older artist’s oeuvre, initially stimulated by this moment of insight at the National Gallery but more immediately by the 1995 retrospective exhibition, <i>Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665</i>, at the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
<br/>
<br/>The etching plates were prepared by Ann Dowker, a London artist who later collaborated with Kossoff on biting the plates with acid, wiping them before printing, and making trial proofs. In some cases, areas of the etchings were washed with <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/aquatint" title="Glossary definition for 'Aquatint'"><span>aquatint</span></a>; in others, lines were emphasised by <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/drypoint" title="Glossary definition for 'Drypoint'"><span>drypoint</span></a>. The etchings were printed by Mark Balakjian at Studio Prints, London. 
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<br/><b>Further reading:</b>
<br/>Richard Kendall, <i>Drawn to Painting</i>, London 2000, pp.37-8, reproduced p.83 in colour
<br/>Paul Moorhouse, <i>Leon Kossoff</i>, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1996, p.27-30
<br/><i>Leon Kossoff: Recent Paintings</i>, exhibition catalogue, British Council, Venice 1995
<br/>
<br/>Anna Bright
<br/>September 2005</p>

Summary
2005-12-22T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
adults architecture Bacchanalia Bacchante cherub classical myths: events, themes classical myths: gods and heroes dance fine art and design, named works landscape leisure and pastimes man monuments music and entertainment objects Pan people Poussin, Nicolas, painting, ‘A Bacchanalian Revel before a Term of Pan’ religion and belief statue universal religious imagery woman wooded