Jan Hladik - printmaking report


Jan Hladik (1927-2018) studied at the State School of Graphic Art in Prague, Czechoslovakia from 1942-44 in the studio of painting and textile design. While he seems to have exhibitions that focussed on textile art, I have selected a couple of his etchings.
The first one is a portrait of Alberto Giacometti who was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker.This was done in 2002. The second is a portrait of Egon Shiele, artist, done in 1986.
I found these prints while researching my printmaking project. The first one dramatically shows the shadows on the face by thorough cross hatching. The second face is of a younger man and his cheek is smooth and the tone of the cheek is shown by a striped contour line which gives it a bit of curve.
I prefer the first one as there is more depth and atmosphere to it. However I am going to do an etching of a 14 year old boy who has smooth skin however I can get the vivid darks in his eyes which are hooded.

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