Ritchie Signed 1973 Original Etching Aquatint Abstract Biomorphic Form, Numbered 74/80

PRODUCT DETAILS

• Material: Etching with aquatint, likely with soft-ground, printed from a shaped copper plate in olive-green and grey-black ink on cream wove paper; narrow polished chrome frame, cream linen-textured mat over a warm inner mat, under glazing

• Dimensions: Frame approx 19 x 24 1/2 in; sheet visible in the mat window approx 13 7/8 x 17 in; platemark approx 10 1/4 x 12 3/8 in

• Color/Finish: Graded olive-green to sepia aquatint ground with pale reserved linework on a cream sheet; bright chrome frame

• Condition: Fair to good. Sheet is uniformly light-toned with age, with a few scattered small foxing spots and a brown speck in the lower right margin. The plate impression is crisp and the aquatint grain is unabraded. No tears or creases visible, no obvious mat burn. Frame is sound. Sheet remains matted, so roughly an inch of margin on each side is not visible

• Era/Period: 1973, pencil-dated 73 beside the signature

• Subject: A single standing biomorphic form, swelling and budding, part figural and part tree-like, built from a dense web of interlaced curved etched lines. Pencil-signed at lower right and numbered 74/80 at lower left, both in the margin below the platemark rather than printed in the plate. The signature reads "Ritchie 73" in a cursive hand. We have not matched it to a specific printmaker, so no first name or biography is offered here; the listing photos include a full-resolution crop of it so you can judge for yourself

This is an original intaglio impression: the platemark is embossed into the paper, the shaped plate's cut corner and bottom notch are physically impressed into the sheet, and the aquatint is a true resin grain rather than a halftone dot pattern. The shaped plate gives the printed field an unusual stepped silhouette that reads well on a wall, and the pencil signature and edition number in the margin are the configuration collectors of 1970s editions look for. Priced as what it demonstrably is, a framed 1973 etching, signed Ritchie and numbered, and sold ready to hang in its existing chrome frame.