JOSEPH HECHT (1891 –
1951) (Polish/British)
“Nelson’s Column,
Trafalgar Square, London”
Original Engraving.
Plate size 274mm x 225mm
Overall framed size
20 1/8” x 17 5/8” (510mm x 447mm)
Signed in Pencil IMAGE
Joseph Hecht was born in 1891 in Lodz, a textile centre southwest of Warsaw. As a young boy, he
exhibited interest in becoming an artist, encouraged by his family’s
appreciation of the arts. At the age of eighteen, Hecht entered the Academie
Beaux-Arts in Krakow, following a traditional
course of studies for five years. Upon completion of his studies in Krakow, Hecht visited museums throughout Europe. Hecht found himself in Berlin at the outbreak of World War I and he
decided to go to neutral Norway
for the remainder of the war. In Norway he discovered and began
experimenting with light and landscape in his work. During this time he
produced numerous fine drypoints and engravings. Hecht travelled to Italy immediately following the
armistice and two years later he travelled to Paris where he established a studio. He
became a member of the Salon d’Automne, thereby gaining renown in the Parisian
art world and the ability to exhibit his work on a regular basis. Hecht was
particularly productive from 1919 to 1939, exhibiting widely and producing many
drypoints and engravings and a smaller number of etchings and woodcuts. During
this time Hecht met Stanley William Hayter through a mutual friend and Hecht
helped Hayter to make his first drypoint. Known as a stickler for detail in his
work, Hecht ground his own printing ink and established a number of innovative
printing methods. Only late in his career did he allow anyone other than
himself to print his plates. Hecht’s most successful period began in 1926 when
he published his first suite of six prints, “l’Arche de Noe” which was
exhibited at the Paris Gallery, Le Nouvel Essor, in December of the same year.
In 1927, the collaborated efforts of Hecht and Hayter led to the establishment
of Atelier 17. Hecht became a founding member of La Jeune Gravure Contemporaine
in 1929. He also began associating with members of Les Peintres-Graveurs
Independants, a group founded in 1923 by Jean Emile Labourer and Raoul Dufy. As
World War II approached, there was a diminution in Hecht’s production and as he
was of Jewish descent, France
offered him little protection or safety. He left Paris and travelled to the Savoy region near the Swiss- Italian border,
spending the duration of the war working as an agricultural labourer. Hayter
returned to France
in 1946 and re-established contact with Hecht, only to find him out of work and
in poor health. Hayter procured an enormous copper plate, which he took to
Hecht’s studio and began to engrave. Hecht could not resist also taking up a
burin and working on the plate, resulting in the collaborative print, “La
Noyee”. Hecht regained enthusiasm for his work, producing numerous new
engravings and, additionally, developing methods of printing engravings in
relief. Hecht died in his Paris
studio in 1951.
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