recto: Man with Matisse tattoo (state proof). verso: Untitled, from the suite The image in search of itself

This double-sided screenprint features two works by two different artists, printed seven years apart at Kelpra Studios, London. It is standard practice for a workshop and printer to retain an impression of a work for their archive, but not to use the reverse as a proof for another artist. Were Kelpra Studios and R.B. Kitaj playing a joke on Victor Pasmore, or maybe just running short on paper? Kitaj gifted the prints to Tony Reichardt of Marlborough Graphics, his and Pasmore’s dealer, acknowledging Pasmore through his inscription.

In Kitaj’s ‘Man with Matisse tattoo (state proof)’ 1978 we see a muscular male nude wearing a cap and smoking a cigarette. This print is a first-state proof and shows the torso before it is covered with the ‘tattoo’ of Matisse’s ‘Blue nude’ of 1952. A state proof is a working proof; the impression is pulled during the creation of the image, allowing the artist to assess the progress and make changes where necessary.

Pasmore’s ‘Untitled ‘1971, from the suite ‘The image in search of itself’, displays his interest in linear motifs and movement. A pioneer of British abstract art, Pasmore created simple yet dynamic images that loosely relate to patterns in nature. The meandering lines in ‘Untitled’ could therefore be viewed as a topographic terrain map, flowing water, wood grain or even a fingerprint.