Jennifer Marshall - 'Crossing'

Wednesday 18 October - Sunday 5 November 2017

Click here for artwork by Jennifer Marshall

“All of the prints take, as their starting point, depictions of the 1514/15, 12 block woodcut Crossing of the Red Sea by Titian in the British Museum collection and the 1632-4 Poussin painting in the NGV collection . 

The etchings included in the exhibition (a small sample of the overall number) are the result of sketches made in 2016 at the NGV whilst I was artist-in-residence at the Australian Print Workshop. These small etchings explore various details of the painting. The use of burnt sienna refers to the ground used by Poussin in his painting and which has become more and more obvious over time. 

Alongside, my large chiaroscuro woodcuts have the same dimensions as the original works by Titian ( 12 blocks ) and the framed Poussin painting. The diptych is a reworking, 23 years later, of my 1994 homage to Titian, The Sea The Sea, but unlike my earlier version, I have included figures derived from the original 16th century woodcut. In both the Titian and the Poussin, there is a definite left and right division (the diptych underlines this) which refers to the coming of dawn and the moving away of the storm.”