Bible Prints

Sacramento, CA: Co-Tangent Press, 2015. Artist's book, one of 6 copies, 5 of which are for sale, all on Nideggen paper, each copy signed by the artist, William T. Vollmann, on the colophon and on the hand-lettered titlepage and on the reverse of each print. Page size: 17 x 12-7-8 inches; 12pp. Bound: loose as issued; suite of prints and titlepage and colophon are wrapped in buff Rives lightweight and housed in a custom-made black cloth over boards clamshell box, with title and artist printed in black on white label on spine, box by Joelle Leavitt Webber at The Mermaid Bindery.
Each of the 6 copies contains 5 original woodblock prints printed with a spoon in Charbonnel and Daniel Smith oil-based inks, with additional hand-work done a la poupee. The wood blocks were engraved on pine blocks over pencil drawings of two different female models. The Nideggen paper was first under-painted with black acrylic in order to reverse his usual negative-tone style. Each print was then archivally glued to hand-painted, edge-wrapped archival card colored with Daniel Smith gesso and Golden acrylics. The back of each print was waxed with Renaissance wax. The outlines were then embellished with translucent sanguine etching ink on the outlines. The reverse of each print has a card, tipped onto the top left corner, with the number of the set and each signed by William T. Vollmann and dated. In addition, in the lower right corner is a hand-written quotation from the Bible which refers to the image on the verso; chapter and verse are cited.
William T. Vollmann's Bible Prints are all of women - as God speaks in a feminine voice. For this always provocative author, God is Goddess. The Biblical quotations so reflect this interpretation. The images are at once fundamental and sophisticated with real punch / power.