Etching on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Rhythms
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/andre-bicat-749" aria-label="More by André Bicât" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">André Bicât</a>
Armoured Head
Presented by Tina, Tony and Nick Bicât, the artist's children 2001
abstraction
adults
body
figure
figure
from recognisable sources
head / face
irregular forms
lifestyle and culture
musical analogy
non-representational
people
society
<p><i>Armoured Head</i> is part of a portfolio of prints titled <i>Rhythms</i>. This text discusses the group of works (P11757-P11763) as a whole. <i>Rhythms </i>is a portfolio of seven etchings made in 1965 and printed on off-white wove paper. Each print was made in the artist's London studio in an edition of twenty-five. Bicât retained only two complete suites containing the first and second imprints, and this portfolio contains the first set of imprints. His decision to create the two portfolios at great expense at a time when money was short is evidence of their importance to him. The artist felt that although the prints could be sold separately they had been created as a suite and they should be viewed as such. Throughout his life Bicât remained pleased with the two portfolios. He never parted with either edition and both have remained in the hands of the family until his children presented this portfolio to Tate in 2001. The seven etchings refer to music and can be read as analogies for the various movements within a symphony or concerto. Music was a major feature in Bicât's life, and his wife had been a concert pianist. The artist, who would frequently make connections between music and art, tended to listen to music as he worked. His daughter Tina Bicât remembers his studio resounding to the music of Béla Bartók (1881-1945) during what was a period of emotional turmoil for her father. The images in the portfolio are dreamlike, almost nightmarish, and they apparently refer to the unsettling dreams Bicât was having at this point. He worked intensely on these plates, devoting himself to nothing else until they were completed. They are strongly worked and one has a sense of the physical exertion of the artist in the deeply bitten line. The plates became almost like reliefs and bear comparison with his sculptures. This link is made explicit in the four prints made with shaped plates, which echo the sculpted heads he was making at the time. Bicât's talent for, and understanding of, the technique of etching led to his appointment as tutor in this subject at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1966, a post he held until 1974. Chloe Johnson and Giorgia BottinelliFebruary 2002</p>
paper print etching
Armoured Head
unconfirmed: 780 × 585 mm
Presented by Tina, Tony and Nick Bicât, the artist's children 2001
<p><i>Armoured Head</i> is part of a portfolio of prints titled <i>Rhythms</i>. This text discusses the group of works (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/bicat-shadows-p11757" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11757</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/bicat-percussion-p11763" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11763</span></a>) as a whole.

</p><p><i>Rhythms </i>is a <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> of seven <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> made in 1965 and printed on off-white wove <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/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a>. Each <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 made in the artist's London studio in an <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> of twenty-five. Bicât retained only two complete suites containing the first and second imprints, and this portfolio contains the first set of imprints. His decision to create the two portfolios at great expense at a time when money was short is evidence of their importance to him. The artist felt that although the prints could be sold separately they had been created as a suite and they should be viewed as such. Throughout his life Bicât remained pleased with the two portfolios. He never parted with either edition and both have remained in the hands of the family until his children presented this portfolio to Tate in 2001.

</p><p>The seven etchings refer to music and can be read as analogies for the various movements within a symphony or concerto. Music was a major feature in Bicât's life, and his wife had been a concert pianist. The artist, who would frequently make connections between music and art, tended to listen to music as he worked. His daughter Tina Bicât remembers his studio resounding to the music of Béla Bartók (1881-1945) during what was a period of emotional turmoil for her father. The images in the portfolio are dreamlike, almost nightmarish, and they apparently refer to the unsettling dreams Bicât was having at this point. He worked intensely on these plates, devoting himself to nothing else until they were completed. They are strongly worked and one has a sense of the physical exertion of the artist in the deeply bitten line. The plates became almost like <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/relief" title="Glossary definition for 'Relief'"><span>reliefs</span></a> and bear comparison with his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptures</span></a>. This link is made explicit in the four prints made with shaped plates, which echo the sculpted heads he was making at the time.

</p><p>Bicât's talent for, and understanding of, the technique of etching led to his appointment as tutor in this subject at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1966, a post he held until 1974.

</p><p>Chloe Johnson and Giorgia Bottinelli<br/>February 2002</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
abstraction adults body figure figure from recognisable sources head / face irregular forms lifestyle and culture musical analogy non-representational people society