X. Three Lithographs: The Metzayer, Ratchik, Leaves (1972-1974) Yona Fischer, Catalogue: "Itineraries and Forms", 1976 1972-73 Works with Dedi Ben Shaul on the prints Two Trees in Memory of the Metzayer and Ratchik.
1974 Prints, with Dedi Ben Shaul and Shlomo Mitzoui, the first five colors of the print Leaves.
Arie Aroch dies on October 15, 1974.
In some regards the three lithographs Aroch made in the last years of his life are the summation of his quest. The lithograph Two Trees in Memory of the Metzayer (1972) was printed in nine colors on coarse domestic paper. The Metzayer's personality (Hebrew acronym of "Mordechai Zvi, native of Radoshkavich"), a 19th-century poet from Vilnius who wrote Hebrew articles on the philosophy of painting, preoccupied and inspired Aroch. In this print, the Arochian elements--the motif (the profile), the form in space (the two trees), the line and the color--reach a highly refined balance.
Ratchik, the last print he was able to make, features the two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms found in In Ratchik's Shop (1967-68) as an austere formal structure. A comparison between the sketches in crayon and color on the intermediate prints and the finished print shows how well Aroch applied the finest color transparencies on coarse paper in order to present the image as the tersest combination of form and material. A typical decision in this regard was disposing of the blue from the print Leaves--the blue in the painting on which the print was to be based. |
|
|
