This exhibition showcased the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures, 12 color aquatints by Darren Waterston and text plates featuring a poem by award-winning writer Mark Doty. The portfolio, a contemporary version of a medieval bestiary, was commissioned by the Achenbach Graphic Arts Council, in support of the art acquisitions program of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s prints and drawings department.
The bestiary is a literary and illustrative form in which a number of known animal species, as well as mythological creatures, are catalogued encyclopedically. As a genre, the medieval bestiary constituted a natural history of creation that frequently included moralizing allegories, with the animal kingdom providing apt symbols for human behavior.
In this modern bestiary Waterston depicts silhouetted animal and plant forms in emotionally charged configurations meant to be as menacing as they are playful. “As Mark’s extraordinary poetry took form,” Waterston has said, “I painted in response, inspired by his words though not directly illustrating them.”
The portfolio contains 12 color prints printed in etching, aquatint, water-bite aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint on Somerset White paper by Paulson Bott Press, Berkeley. Twelve letterpress text pages, title page, and colophon page were designed by Jennifer Sonderby and printed on Somerset White paper by Alan Hillesheim, Oakland. Each sheet measures 16 ¾ x 12 inches and is contained in a portfolio made by John DeMerritt, Emeryville.
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Plate I, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate II, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate IV, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate VI, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate VII, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate VIII, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate IX, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate X, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30
Plate XI, from the portfolio A Swarm, A Flock, A Host: A Compendium of Creatures 2013 Etching, aquatint, and spit-bite aquatint 16 ¾ x 12 inches Edition of 30