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Past Impressions, Through the Eyes of Printmakers:
Bernard Childs (1910 - 1985)
Born in Brooklyn, New York on September 1, 1910, to Russian immigrant parents, Bernard Childs grew up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1930 after two years at the University of Pennsylvania, he went to New York to pursue his art career, studying by night at the Art Students' League with Kimon Nicolaides, Childs met the Danish silversmith Peer Smed. Childs remarked: "From this great craftsman I learned the beauty of metals, the feel of them in my hands, the excitement of fashioning them and the use of the special tools that bring them to life."
Childs later mastered industrial tools and metalworking while employed as a machinist in a factory converted to wartime production. In 1947 he began his studies in New York with Amédée Ozenfant. Childs moved to Europe in 1951, living primarily in Paris for the next fifteen years. In 1954, while spending a few months at Atelier 17 in Paris, Childs combined his interest in metal and knowledge of industrial tools to make experimental intaglio prints, using power tools to incise the plates. He referred to these prints as "power drypoints." Childs moved to New York in 1966 but returned to France frequently.
His paintings and prints have been exhibited widely and are included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Newark Public Library, New York Public Library, Fogg Art Museum, Library of Congress, Zimmerli Art Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum, and the Bibliothèque Nationale. Bernard Childs died in New York on March 27, 1985.
The Rainmaker
Color intaglio; 1955; pencil signed, titled and dated; also inscribed in the lower right corner of the paper: Imprime par l'auteur; editioned 35/35; printed in Paris by the artist on ivory, Arches wove paper; 6-7/8 x 12-3/4" platemark. $2,500.00
Color intaglio; 1966; pencil signed, titled and dated; inscribed: color state proof for "Mannikin"; printed by the artist on antique-white textured wove paper; 9-3/4 x 7-3/4" platemark. $1,500.00
Intaglio; 1960; pencil signed, titled and dated; inscribed: ep'd'e (épreuve d'essai); edition of 12; printed by the artist on heavy, ivory wove paper; from his series Book of Months; 4-7/16 x 4-3/8" platemark. $1,050.00
In describing his Book of Months, Childs wrote...
so I thought of the Chinese Book of Changes which makes a science of improbability...I thought why not have a calendar which could be perpetual, that could be shuffled according to the state of being we were in or wanted to be in. A calendar without compulsion that was born of the precious distillation of living...
Color intaglio; 1963; pencil signed, titled and dated; unique color state proof; edition of 10; printed by the artist on ivory Arches wove paper; 7-1/8 x 8" platemark. $3,000.00 
Intaglio; 1955; pencil signed, titled and dated; inscribed: épreuve d'essai; printed by Nono Reinhold on BFK Rives wove paper; 12-5/8 x 7-1/2" platemark. $2,000.00
Color intaglio; 1958; pencil signed, titled and dated; inscribed: épreuve d'essai en couleur for "Barcarolle"; printed in Paris by the artist on Rives BFK wove paper; 11-1/8 x 16-1/2" platemark. $2,800.00
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