Seven Views of Chichen-Itza

San Francisco: Porpoise Bookshop, printed by Henry Evens at the Peregrine Press, 1962. Limited Edition. No binding. Near fine. Barton, Rick. One of 75 copies, loose folio leaves in a paper wrap, elephant folio size, with 8 leaves total. This collection of prints is by Rick Barton, about whom little is known, except that he was part of the Beat movement of artists in San Francisco during the 1950s and 1960s. He was deeply influenced by Chinese line and brushwork; he created his images first using a brush and ink, then used these drawings as the basis for his block-carving. These seven prints depict Chichen-Itza, a Mayan City in present-day Mexico; Barton (truncated) renders the architectural structures of the ancient city as abstract forms, with many delicate shapes crowding the picture plane.

The folio was printed by Henry Evans at the Peregrine Press, a part of Porpoise Bookshop in San Francisco; Evans, with his wife Patricia and daughter Judith, printed works on a variety of subjects, often by local writers such as Lawrence Ferlinghetti. The work of the Peregrine Press is at once individualistic and faithful to the artist, and here Rick Barton's relief prints convey a cathartic sense of both place and thought.

Scarce in the marketplace, as of this writing we see no other copies offered online.

___DESCRIPTION: Cream hand-made paper folio with red lettering on the front, eight loose leaves including seven relief prints in black and one colophon printed in red; Mochizuki paper, elephant folio size (16" by 12 1/4"), one of 75 copies, unnumbered.

___CONDITION: Folio and leaves are near fine; entirely free of prior owner markings; both the paper folio and the individual leaves are clean and without wear, all with some light foxing.

___POSTAGE:  Please note that due to the large size of this item additional postage may apply; please inquire for details.

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