TitleThe Hollandale Tapes: Boo Boo in Silo Sixteen
Artist
Warrington Colescott
(American, 1921 - 2018)
Date1984
MediumColor etching, soft-ground etching and aquatint on white BFK Rives paper
DimensionsSheet size: 29 15/16 × 22 5/16 in.
Plate size: 23 11/16 × 16 3/4 in.
Image size: 23 11/16 × 16 3/4 in.
Edition2/50
SignedSigned lower right in graphite: "Warrington Colescott 1984".
MarkingsWatermark: BFK RIVES / FRANCE.
SubmissionNA diploma presentation, May 6, 1992
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number1992.4
Label TextWarrington Colescott is a political satirist in his paintings and prints in the tradition of eighteenth-century British cartoonists such as James Gillray, William Hogarth, and others. Colescott was born in New Orleans and raised in Oakland, California, attending the University of California, Berkeley for his B.A. and M.A. After serving in the military, Colescott continued his studies in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He returned to the U.S. in 1949 and began teaching intaglio printmaking at the University of Wisconsin, a position he held until 1986. Colescott refined the use of complex printmaking techniques including the unique practice of cutting intaglio plates in order to silhouette compositional elements.This print is from a loose series of prints the artist created beginning in 1982 after the artist purchased a satellite dish which gave him access to a large amount of political and news programming. Intended to show the inner workings of the government, the entire series is a biting satirical critique. "Boo Boo in Silo Sixteen" is composed like a letter from an enlisted soldier beginning in the top right with vignettes running down the page. The "boo boo" can be seen in the lower right of the print as the guard dog accidentally launches the nuclear missile.
