Swoon is releasing a new print this week, and it’s an image that her fans have been looking forward to for years: Alison the Lacemaker. Despite being a familiar image in Swoon’s work for over a decade, this is, I think, the first time that Alison is being made available as a print.
Here’s a bit from Swoon about the portrait:
“When I’m drawing a portrait, I will often have an art-historical reference somewhere in my mind. It’s usually not that I set out to make a reference; just that when I’m drawing, I’ll find a similarity in spirit or composition and let it keep the portrait company while I’m drawing. For Alison the Lacemaker, I was drawing a portrait of my friend sewing when Vermeer’s Lacemaker emerged as a natural muse. The portrait is in honor of the Lacemaker, but also a separate nod to the ability of early European woodcut masters—like Jost Amman in his noted depiction of Adam and Eve—to tell such poignant stories about the knowledge of our own mortality.”
I can never pick my personal favorite Swoon image, but Alison is definitely up there, especially in this format. Swoon generally produces top-notch prints, and Alison has a nod to her lino-block printing as well as her papercuts.
The 4-color screenprint is an edition of 150, measures 20″ x 26″, and will be available through Swoon’s online print shop starting at noon on Wednesday the 20th.
Photos courtesy of Swoon