Gerda Smit - Untitled

Gerda SMIT (Utrecht 1934 - Eindhoven 2004)
A perfect etching by Gerda Smit no. 2/25 1986, with passepartout and frame.

Studied at the Vrije Academie in Eindhoven (Graphics department) Gerda Smit lets her feelings guide her work. She is touched by the things that happen around her and in the world. For example, the people and animals from her environment always appear in her work. In the dry needle technique that Gerda Smit uses, lines are applied to a metal plate with a sharp metal stylus, without using an acid solution. The shallow grooves with burrs that result from this cause a typical velvety tone on the paper on which it is printed. The colours in the print are obtained by printing the etching plate on the paper in different colour gradients. Without wanting to be a social indictment, her original works and etchings indicate the defencelessness of people and animals against injustice. For example, the figures in her work are often - literally and figuratively - immature. Gerda's work is reminiscent of naive art: figurative, sweet representations that radiate a childlike innocence. Her human figures, which are both primitive and schematically depicted, come to life in a touchingly serene way.