“La 18 Me”
28″h x 31″ (matte), 20″ x 24″ (sheet), etching & aquatint (signed, number 7/120) (1978)
Augen Gallery is my favorite gallery in Portland, and I’ve long looked for an excuse to purchase something from them. I was flipping through prints while visiting with my brother-in-law, and I came across this fabulous etching and aquatint.
The subtle background cityscape and the semi-abstracted woman are arresting on their own. But one thing I really liked about it is how it reminded me of one of my mom’s favorite prints in her collection: “Passengers,” a 1962 woodcut by Ellen Nathan Singer that portrays a mother and child riding a bus or subway together.
There are obviously many differences between the two works. But something about the color palette and styling makes the women feel connected. Maybe the first is a younger version, tres chic in the big city; while the second is a bit older, still in the city, still in black dresses, but a mom getting her kid around town.
Art tells a story, but as collectors we also can create our own stories with art. Brandstätter and Singer almost certainly never met and likely were unaware of each other’s existence; “objectively” these two prints have nothing to do with one another. But now they do — they represent a connection between past and future, and mother and child. That connection is just as special as one that is intrinsic to the art itself.
David Schraub 
