Plaster print on paper
Tate Collection
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/ryszard-otreba-1729" aria-label="More by Ryszard Otreba" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Ryszard Otreba</a>
Discovery V
Presented by Professor Akumal Ramachander 1985
abstraction
emotions, concepts and ideas
irregular forms
mystery
non-representational
universal concepts
paper unique plaster print
Discovery V
image: 807 × 548 mm
Presented by Professor Akumal Ramachander 1985
<em>This catalogue entry discusses a group of works; details of the individual work are given at the end of the introductory text.</em>
<p>
<strong>Ryszard Otreba</strong> born 1932
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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/otreba-initiation-i-p11087" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11087</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/otreba-discovery-v-p11088" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11088</span></a> <strong>Letters to my Wife</strong> 1967 - to present
</p><p>
Sixteen prints, various sizes on Japanese paper, printed and published by the artist in an edition of 25<br/>
Presented by Professor Akumal Ramachander 1985
</p><p>
<span>P11088</span> <strong>Discovery V</strong> 1975
</p><p>
Plaster print 807 x 548 (31 3/4  x 21 9/16) on Japanese paper 992 x 651 (39 1/6  x 25 5/8)<br/>
Inscribed 'Znalezisko V' b.l. and 'Otreba 1975' b.r.
</p><p>
Unless otherwise indicated, all quotations from the artist come from a letter to the compiler dated 19 February 1988.
</p><p>
<span>P11087</span> and <span>P11088</span> were both made in the artist's studio in Krakow, Poland, under artificial light conditions. He writes that each work took about one or two months to complete, although, 'the idea is really from the beginning - the emotional idea'. The works belong to a series begun in 1967, called 'Letter to my Wife'. In a letter to the compiler dated 11 April 1988 the artist writes:
</p><blockquote>
The first image I developed took place when in the USA on my scholarship in 1966/67. I have made about 16 <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>prints</span></a> on this subject matter all together. The average number of works I do is about seven prints per year so you can find out that subject related to the 'Letter to my Wife' contains about 10% of all works I am realizing.
</blockquote>
The artist stresses the private nature of the imagery and his relationship with the intended recipient:
<blockquote>
They are made for one person only - almost like writing a letter to somebody who is a very close friend, a lover - just my wife. I try to explore my own ability and to discover individual 'symbols' that are understood by a small number of people, sometimes one person only, because it's a personal feeling of a certain desire - a state of being united in love.
</blockquote>
The artist admits to an open-ended sense of mystery in his imagery saying, 'I think there is a great deal of mystery in my prints and the message (if one finds it) is open to interpretation'. He describes the subject of the works as consisting of, 'a certain unique system of spatial references, leading the eye deep down, to infinity'. His aim, he writes, is 'so build up an emotion which cannot be translated into words, which causes one to stop and contemplate'.
<p>
The technique used in making both prints is similar. The artist describes his choice of material and the techniques he used as follows:
</p><blockquote>
I try to explore my own experience in the uniqueness of the plasserprint <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>media</span></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/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>Plaster</span></a> printing 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/r/relief" title="Glossary definition for 'Relief'"><span>relief</span></a> printmaking technique which uses plaster as a basic material for the block. I have used this technique since 1961. The plaster block is made by constructing a wooden frame of the size I require made of furring strips [battens approx. 25 x 50] around a sheet of plexiglass or lucite. Then I pour the wet plaster (gesso) into 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/f/form" title="Glossary definition for 'Form'"><span>form</span></a> and strengthen it by embedding a piece of screening or wire mesh in it. After 20 minutes the plaster feels hot and the block may be removed from the form. When the plaster dries up, it becomes very hard and yields the fine details intended. [While the plaster is still soft and hardening slowly, is is worked by the artist. Only very fine details can be incised once the plaster has hardened.]
</blockquote>
<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/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>Photographs</span></a> of Otreba's plaster print technique are reproduced to illustrate the technique in John Ross and Clare Romano, <em>The Complete New Techniques in Printmaking</em>, London and New York 1972, p.15. The artist also produces the blocks discussed in the foregoing quotation. Because of their thickness and fragility all prints are made by hand. He continues: 'the printing process is very time-consuming. A press cannot be used therefore I print every print by hand with a bone or a spoon'. This painstaking method of printing accounts for the length of time required to produce 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 prints.
<p>
In <em>Tate Gallery Report 1984-6</em> (1986, p.149) the medium is wrongly described as '<a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/lithography" title="Glossary definition for 'Lithography'"><span>lithograph</span></a>' for both prints. Further, <span>P11088</span> is wrongly titled there.
</p><p>
The artist has approved this entry.
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
<em>The Tate Gallery 1984-86: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions Including Supplement to Catalogue of Acquisitions 1982-84</em>, Tate Gallery, London 1988, pp.440-1

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Catalogue entry
2004-09-15T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction emotions, concepts and ideas irregular forms mystery non-representational universal concepts