Jump on One Foot, One Foot

Jump on One Foot, One Foot

Saar’s gestural print of a girl jumping rope escapes the charm typically associated with childhood play, instead infusing the scene with the vigor of the child’s rapid movement. The smudges of ink at the girl’s feet evoke dust kicked up by the rope hitting the ground as her undefined edges animate her brisk jumping. Saar takes full advantage of the painterly qualities of monotype printmaking, in which paper is pressed against a surface applied with ink, often with a brush. Because the plate is not incised like an etching, the design is typically printed only once. This monotype demonstrates the continuity and experimentation of Saar’s printmaking practice in her mature career, well after she began making her acclaimed assemblages in the late 1960s.

Betye Saar

1984

Oil monotype

Collection of Cleophus Thomas