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YNEZ JOHNSTON and MAX POLLAK: Etchings
December 17, 2005-February 18, 2006
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 17, 3 to 6pm
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Mexico, India, Southeast Asia and Japan, and she has been influenced by each of those cultures. Her works reflect her romantic
curiosity and empathy. Our exhibition focuses upon Johnston’s powers as an etcher, though she also worked very successfully in
woodcuts and lithography. From her early line etchings of the 1940s and 1950s (including Woman in Market, 1948 and
Breakwater, 1953) to her vibrant prints of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s (Hunting Scene II, 1962 and The Secret Landscape, 1978),
Johnston’s personal aesthetic language is always evident. Though no longer active in printmaking, Johnston’s creative powers
(at 86 years old!) still continue. Our exhibition will also include recent paintings (such as The Sea, created in 2005), ceramics
and sculpture, extending her unique mythical vision.
MAX POLLAK (1886-1970), born in Czechoslovakia, studied painting and etching at the Vienna Academy of Art under Ferdinand
Schmutzer. By the 1910s, he was already gaining a reputation by creating portraits of European luminaries, including Sigmund Freud.
While in Vienna, he witnessed the exodus of Jews from pogroms in Russia and Bohemia, as shown in his 1914 series of etchings Im
Barachenslager. Pollak spent three years in Paris before coming to New York in 1927, eventually settling in San Francisco.
Pollak’s early etchings are finely detailed, just as Dutch Girl of 1924. His etching technique of applying color directly to the plate
‘a la poupee’ before pressing results in unique impressions, as can be seen in San Francisco Between the Bridges of 1949. Pollak,
like Johnston, also loved to travel, spending much time in Central America. Our exhibit features etchings that reflect this passion,
including images of Austria, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Texas, Mexico and Guatemala.
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For more images and biographical data,
email: tobeymoss@earthlink.net
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