O rose
1996
- Medium
- colour drypoint, spit-bite aquatint printed in crimson ink and plate-tone
- Measurements
- (1) 22.2 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.4 × 48.2 cm (sheet)
(2) 22.2 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.2 × 48.0 cm (sheet)
(3) 22.2 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.0 × 48.0 cm (sheet)
(4) 22.2 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.0 × 48.0 cm (sheet)
(5) 22.2 × 22.0 cm (plate) 59.1 × 48.2 cm (sheet)
(6) 22.2 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.0 × 48.2 cm (sheet)
(7) 22.2 × 22.0 cm (plate) 59.0 × 47.8 cm (sheet)
(8) 22.3 × 22.1 cm (plate) 59.1 × 48.1 cm (sheet)
(9) 22.4 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.1 × 48.2 cm (sheet)
(10) 22.4 × 22.2 cm (plate) 59.2 × 48.2 cm (sheet) - Edition
- ed. 3/15
- Inscription
- (1) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose I
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(2) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose II
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(3) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose III
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(4) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose IV
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(5) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose V
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(6) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose VI
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(7) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose VII
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(8) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose VIII
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(9) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose IX
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
(10) inscribed in pencil l.l.: 3/15
inscribed in pencil l.c.l.: O Rose X
inscribed in pencil l.r.: KHeadlam '96
chopmark l.r.: (Viridian Press monogram) - Accession Number
- 1997.371.1-10
- Departments
- Australian Prints / Australian Prints & Drawings
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased through The Art Foundation of Victoria with the assistance of Amcor Limited, Fellow, 1997 - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
O rose quotes ‘The Sick Rose’, a poem by William Blake from his collection Songs of Experience (1794): ‘O Rose thou art sick / The invisible worm, / That flies in the night / In the howling storm: / Has found out thy bed / Of crimson joy: / And his dark secret love / Does thy life destroy’. Kristin Headlam endows her prints with the deathly atmosphere of Blake’s poem by using dark red shades and coarse lines. The splattered form of the red acquaint suggests a violence that contrasts with the rose, often considered a symbol of femininity.
