This is a very rare, poignant early color etching and aquatint printed with intaglio violet with black, contact lumogen yellow, soft roller green, and soft roller blue by legendary printmaker S.W. Hayter. It is fully referenced in the catalogue raisonne, "The Prints of Stanley William Hayter" by Black and Moorehead (Phaidon), plate 258, page 238-240, and is one of the few prints selected for a double page spread reproduction in the raisonne. Bryan Robertson, former director of London's Whitechapel Gallery wrote about Stanley Hayter back in 1974:

"Hayter, working always with maximum flexibility in painting, drawing, engraving and collage, has invented some of the most central and significant images of this century before most of the other artists of his generation. He is an originator, and it is a sign of this artist's vitality and youthfulness that he has never bothered to put on the mantle of elder statesman which he has an indisputable right to wear....." (S.W. Hayter at La Tortue Gallery, Santa Monica, California, 1974).

Hayter is considered the most influential printmaker of the 20th century, who, through his Atelier 17, is credited with reviving interest in this art form throughout the latter half of the last century.

This uncommon print is from the most influential and important era of Abstract Expressionism and Atelier 17, 1960. Editions of this scarce work are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, the British Museum, for example and have been included in retrospective exhibitions of Hayter's prints.

The work is in its original vintage frame (shown) and in fine condition. Provenance is Estate of Ridgely B. Pierson.