Abstract Etching by Sandro Martini: "Duale"

Fine scratched lines and tiny stars drift across white paper toward a dark blue cloud.

Duale is an abstract etching with aquatint on archival paper by Sandro Martini, made around 1976. Etching records lines scratched through a wax ground and bitten into the plate by acid, while aquatint lays down areas of tone, so a single print can hold both a hair-fine line and a solid shadow. Here a loose net of thin lines and small star-like marks spreads from the left. At upper right, a deep indigo mass is cut by a sharp horizontal bar. It is signed and numbered in pencil. It is 31.13 inches wide and 29.75 high.

A constellation, approaching a storm with some composure.