Walton Ford – Pancha Tantra, Update – Art Edition ‘ Granary’

At first glance, Walton Ford’s large-scale, highly detailed watercolors of animals recall the prints of 19th-century illustrators John James Audubon and Edward Lear. A closer look reveals a complex and disturbingly anthropomorphic universe, full of symbols, sly jokes, and allusions to the ‘operatic’ quality of traditional natural history.

Ford’s large-scale watercolors of animals make up a unique anthropomorphic universe rich in sly jokes and hidden meaning. The most comprehensive survey of Ford’s oeuvre to date, this publication features 40 new works, more than 120 additional pages, and a new essay by the artist.

Following the original sold-out Art Edition, this update of Pancha Tantra includes the six plate aquatint etching Granary, which depicts crimson-capped Acorn Woodpeckers guarding their cache of acorns as the Hollywood Hills—and the famed Stahl House—are threatened by wildfire.

Working with master printer Peter Pettengill at Wingate Studio, New Hampshire, Ford used the traditional techniques of line etching, hard and soft ground, aquatint, spit bite, sugar lift, and drypoint to make the print Granary. The edition of 100 copies was printed by hand on 100% cotton archival-quality Rives BFK paper, using a French-made Le Deuil etching press. Each print is numbered and signed by the artist.

Medium: Hardcover, leatherbound, in slipcase, 28 x 37.4 cm, 8.70 kg, 424 pages; with the six plate aquatint etching on Rives BFK paper, unframed.
Image size: 22.9 x 30.5 cm
Paper size: 35.5 x 46.8 cm
Art Edition of 100
Signed and numbered
Price: € 8,500

This lovely Walton Ford Art Edition is available at Taschen