Etching and aquatint on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Reaper
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/richard-hamilton-1244" aria-label="More by Richard Hamilton" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Richard Hamilton</a>
Reaper i
Purchased 1982
abstraction
agriculture, gardening & fishing
from recognisable sources
Giedeon, Siegfried, ‘Mechanization Takes Command’
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
machine age
man-made
objects
reaper
social comment
society
paper print etching aquatint
1 March 2003 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2 April 2003 – 31 May 2003
2003-05-31
2003-04-02
Drawing Center (New York, USA)
18 June 2003 – 24 August 2003
2003-08-24
2003-06-18
Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, Australia)
26 September 2003 – 28 March 2004
2004-03-28
2003-09-26
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
29 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2004-09-29
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-01
The Stage of Drawing: Gesture and Act Selected from the Tate Collection
Tate partnerships & programmes
11 February 2014 – 14 October 2014
2014-10-14
11 February 2014 – 26 May 2014
2014-05-26
2014-02-11
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2014-02-11
Richard Hamilton
Exhibition
Reaper (i)
image: 200 × 277 mm
support: 268 × 352 mm
Purchased 1982
<p>[FROM] <b>Reaper d, e, g, h, i and j</b> 1949 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hamilton-reaper-d-p07648" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07648</span></a>-<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hamilton-reaper-j-p07653" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07653</span></a>; incomplete]
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<br/>Six etchings from a series of 16, printed by the artist at the Slade School of Art in small editions of varying trial proofs.
<br/>Purchased from the artist (Grant-in-Aid) 1982
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Richard Hamilton <i>Richard Hamilton Prints 1939–1983</i> 1984, nos.23, 24 and 26 to 29 respectively, all repr. pp.25–8
<br/>
<br/><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hamilton-reaper-i-p07652" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P07652</span></a> <b>Reaper i</b>
<br/>Aquatint 7 7/8×10 7/8 (200 × 277) on paper 10 1/2 × 13 7/8 (268 × 352)
<br/>Inscribed ‘R Hamilton’ b.r. and ‘5/25’ and on the back ‘Reaper (i)’
<br/>
<br/>Hamilton had already made nearly 20 <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> when he began to experiment with the mechanical imagery provided by a reaping machine in order to test the depictive possibilities of 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/m/medium" title="Glossary definition for 'Medium'"><span>medium</span></a> and the individual characters of the marks it would produce in a far more conscious way. ‘The “Reaper” series was inspired by Giedeon's Mechanization Takes Command. Repetition of the simple contrasting forms of the agricultural machine provided material for investigating the technical resources at the Slade School. The “variations” were shown at Gimpels a year after their execution’ (Hamilton, p.23). For that exhibition Hamilton marked <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/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a> numbers on his proofs assuming an edition size of 20 or 25 for the benefit of possible customers: in fact he printed very few of each and probably not more than half the number marked in each case.
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<br/>This and the following entries have been approved by the artist.
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<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/><i>The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions</i>, London 1986
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<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction agriculture, gardening & fishing from recognisable sources Giedeon, Siegfried, ‘Mechanization Takes Command’ literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) machine age man-made objects reaper social comment society