Identity variability and the printed portrait: Forty Fridas and the combination of woodcut and drypoint

Abstract

Ellen Heck's figurative prints and portrait portfolios combine woodcut and intaglio to create narrative compositions. Her Forty Fridas portfolio (2012), a series of portraits depicting women and girls posing as painter/icon Frida Kahlo, was selected as the winner of the Victoria & Albert Prize at the International Print Biennale in 2014. She discusses the development of her process, the influence of Mary Cassatt's color etchings, and the way in which she has continued to use combined techniques to create a body of work that focuses primarily on human identity, its creation, variability, and change.

Keyword:

• printmaking
• drypoint
• woodcut
• portraiture
• Frida Kahlo
• portfolio

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Ellen Heck received degrees in fine art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in philosophy from Brown University. She is currently living and working as a fine art printmaker in California's Bay Area. An artist-in-residence at Kala Art Institute, her work is represented by Wally Workman Gallery in Austin, Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, Davidson Galleries in Seattle, and Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. In the UK, her prints are available at Northern Print in Newcastle upon Tyne.