From her firehouse studio and home, printmaker Beth Van Hoesen (1926?2010) made a career from observing creatures, casual moments, and overlooked things with sensitivity and diligence. Van Hoesen continually sought the elegance and economy in the refined line, never content until a print was just right and the essence of her subject had been perfectly, cleanly expressed. Beth Van Hoesen: Fauna Flora devotes two essays to the renderings of animals and flowers for which Van Hoesen is best known. Using curator, artist, and printer interviews alongside quotations from Van Hoesen?s unpublished 1981 journal, Bob Hicks examines her work within the context of the contemporary art world and the history of figurative printmaking. More than ninety prints and drawings illustrate Van Hoesen?s mastery of color and line in her effort to intimately and meticulously document the tangible world as she saw it.
