Page 15 - SUMMARIES OF GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO’S DECAMEON : A Visionary Journey In 100 Stories And 100 Etchings By Petru Russu

Petru Russu preferred using iron plates for illustrating the Decameron,

believing iron was more suitable than copper or zinc. Zinc plates are
often used by printmakers for etching intaglio prints, while Plexiglas
or similar material is preferred for engravings. Petru explained that
the edges of his plates were intentionally irregular and crooked to

simulate the condition and appearance of an original edition of the
tales. He envisioned they would have been printed on vellum or early
handmade paper without even, ruler-straight edges. The broad, deeply
bitten lines in the plate that sit massively on the paper’s surface result

from repeatedly dipping the prepared plate into sulfuric acid.

Over time, Petru Russu also changed his technique. Early plates

featured fine, nervously vibrating lines that crisscrossed the plate
or ran parallel. Gradually, these sensitive lines gave way to single,
strong cords, solidly incised into the plate and solidly stacked on

the paper, surrounding the aquatinted areas like a wall.

Deciphering the eroticism of the iconography was challenging. One
might even be tempted to reread Boccaccio’s tales. Petru Russu
provides an image of 14th-century Italian life by weaving certain

artifacts into his graphic tale. Checkerboard tablecloths, wine
glasses, rigged sailing vessels, horsemen and horsewomen, and
period headgear appear throughout the prints in various forms.

Men and women are barely humanoid; heads, torsos, and limbs
float in space, disconnected yet making sense and fitting together.
Banquet tables with checkered tablecloths are overturned, wine
glasses have fallen down unbroken, and wine flows out, a real
orgy. One head with a Jean Cocteau-like profile is barely connected

to a 20th-century necktie. Limbs terminate in stumps, clumps, or
geometric finials. The anthropomorphic shapes in prehistoric caves
come to mind.

Petru Russu, the printmaker, forces viewers to return to his prints
ETCHING IS TRADITIONALLY THE PROCESS OF USING STRONG ACID TO
and try to interpret the meaning of their iconography. While they
CUT INTO THE UNPROTECTED PARTS OF A METAL SURFACE TO CREATE
are immediately attractive visually, they demand more attention in A DESIGN IN INTAGLIO IN THE METAL CREATING SUNKEN AREAS WHICH
the long run. HOLD THE INK. (PETRU RUSSU IN 13 / 04 / 1986 INTAGLIO PRINTMAKING
THE 100 DAYS OF DECAMERON ON H. FLEURY PRINTING PRESS
An analysis of Boccaccio’s Decameron by
MANUFACTURED IN PARIS IN THE 1880S.)
Ingrid Rose, Art Critic, The Washington Print Club, Washington DC USA
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