Etchings by Reynold Weidenaar
Reynold Weidenaar was born in Grand Rapids in 1915. He studied at the Kendall School of Design and then at the Kansas City Art Institute. He won national awards while still a first year student. After moving back to Michigan from Kansas City, he quickly achieved fame and acclaim. He taught at Kendall School of Design for many years, but is best known for his exquisite black and white mezzotints. Reynold Weidenaar was internationally acclaimed for his work, focusing on local scenes, humor and satire, his personal worldview and politics in his work.
Reynold Weidenaar was a master of a technique known as intaglio printing. In this type of printing, the artist uses special tools to etch an image into a metal plate. The plate is then coated with ink, a piece of paper is placed on top, and the whole thing is run through a printing press, which transfers the image to the paper. In order for the image to come out correctly, the artist much etch everything into the metal plate backwards. This is especially impressive when you consider the detail and complexity present in many of Weidenaar’s prints.