| The Grotesque Series |
In the late 1960s, Jack produced one of his most distinctive contributions to the graphic world: The Grotesques. This was a series of 20 small prints depicting fantasy creatures of mixed animal and human forms.
These are not images that draw the same kind of popular fondness as Jack’s pictures of flowers, animals, or famous people. They are disturbing “what-if” images; hence the name “Grotesques.”
Two of our early purchases of Jack’s work were from this series: the prints of the Cat Woman and Frog Man. They hang in our bedroom, opposite two individual portraits of Amy and me in our wedding garb, taken the year we were married. (I like the juxtaposition of these four images.)
When Jack finished the twenty copper plates, he printed a small edition of 50 numbered and signed prints. Then, he sent the plates to Paris to be hand-printed by Atelier Leblanc, a noted fine art printer. These were made in an edition of 165 copies and were bound in a boxed volume. Twenty-five of those volumes were numbered I–XXV and were reserved for the artist. The remaining copies are numbered 1–140 and signed on the copyright page only. In 2011, Jack gave me Edition III of the artist’s copies of the boxed book—and I treasure it.
I have since collected a handful of these images from the Grotesques series out of the first edition, and I have them framed and displayed in the entrance to our master bath.
They are intimate images—the kind that often invoke objection from houseguests if displayed in a more public area. And that’s okay. We should have every right to intimate art in our homes, and we can enjoy and appreciate images of grotesque subjects.. -- Nathan Kramer, 2024
| Framed Individually
Cat - Grotesques
Original etching
signed and numbered 23/50
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #63 |
Frog - Grotesques
Original etching
signed and numbered 45/50
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #64 |
Pelican -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and numbered 9/50
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #65 |
Rhino -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and numbered 14/50
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #66 |
Curious Creature -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and marked “Artist’s Proof”
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #67 |
Flying Fish -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and marked “Artist’s Proof”
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #69 |
Bat Man -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and marked “Artist’s Proof”
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #68 |
Owl and Woman -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and numbered 20/50
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #130 |
Birds in Flight -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and marked “Artist’s Proof”
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #70 |
Tortoise and Hare -
Grotesques
Original etching
signed and marked “Artist’s Proof”
Plate size: 3"x 4"
Catalog #71 |
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Grotesques by Jack Coughlin,
Published by Aquarius Press, Baltimore, Maryland, 1970 |
Boxed and bound edition. This volume features the complete suite of 20 original etchings, hand-printed by Atelier LeBlanc in Paris. The edition is of 25 bound copies, plus 20 artist’s copies. Each include 20 unsigned prints,
Plate size 3-inches x 4¼-inches in a hardbound with slip-cover 11½-inches x 12¼-inches.
This hardbound copy is numbered III/XXV and signed. Inscribed on title page “For Nathan, 2011”
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