Coming Soon – New Abraham and Isaac Giclée

The John August Swanson Studio is working on and currently proofing a new giclée edition of “Abraham and Isaac” to be released soon. Below, you may read a history on the project, and how it has changed and continued over many years.

Film Scan of Abraham and Issac, 1994

A limited edition of “Abraham and Isaac” based on John August Swanson’s 1994 painting was originally discussed as a possible serigraph edition at Aurora Serigraphic Studio between Swanson and his printer, Jim Butterfield, in 2006 before the printing of “The Procession, 2007”. However, Swanson decided to print “The Procession” because collectors had asked for a serigraph of that work, and there was already an earlier serigraph edition of “Abraham and Isaac” from 1976.

Scan of Abraham and Isaac, 1976

Following the completion of “The Procession”, which took over a year to print, the Swanson Studio did not have the funds to begin work on another large serigraph project. Swanson instead worked on smaller circus serigraphs in 2008, “Star Clown” and “Papageno”, and considered that “The Procession” might be the last large serigraph he would create.  He then began looking into giclée printing to make a larger number of his artworks available as edition prints, and the Swanson Studio began a number of concurrent projects. The “Abraham and Isaac” was considered for a giclée print edition in 2008.

Photograph of Abraham and Isaac, 1995 Poster

Unfortunately, the Studio’s 4”x5” film transparency of the 1994 painting, which was used to print the 1995 poster of the artwork, was too lacking in detail, and the 8”x 10” film transparency was determined to be too blurry to print.

Instead giclée editions were printed of: “Bridge”, “Crimson Clown”, “Power to the People”, “Newsstand”, and “Elijah”; and a “Power to the People” poster was also released. In 2009 John August Swanson was inspired to create his “Last Supper” serigraph. “Abraham and Isaac” was put aside again, and in 2010 he printed serigraphs of “Madonna of the Harvest” and “Psalm 23”. In 2011 planning was done on a “Dream of Jacob” serigraph, but Swanson’s printer passed away, Aurora Serigraphic Studio closed, and “Psalm 23” was John August Swanson’s final serigraph edition.

First Giclee Proof File for Abraham and Isaac, 2019

Over many years of printing giclée editions, more work was done in the Swanson Studio to make more complicated giclée editions with greater details before film and artwork scans were sent for final printing. Giclée print editions required the scanning and combining of multiple film scans, detail photos, new paintings and painted details, as well as new line work, and hand-done digital corrections for print files. During the printing of “River, 2018(The River giclée edition required a number of new drawings for the artwork, which can be seen in LMU’s digital archive), a new scan was made from the archived 8”x10” film transparency of “Abraham and Isaac” on August 22, 2018, and a proof was printed on February 18, 2019.

Second Giclee Proof File with color changes for Abraham and Isaac, 2019

Work continued slowly on the digital file. The artwork has four main sequential scenes, as well as nine additional smaller scenes, and a myriad of patterned borders surrounding the images. Work was also being completed on “Francis Listens to the Fish, 2018”, and being done on “Francis of Assisi, 2019” at the same time. By the end of 2019, color corrections and changes were made, Swanson began work on new paintings for the smaller scenes at the top of the piece, and the Studio attempted to get new photographs taken of the 1994 painting from the owner.

New Paintings for the top left of Abraham and Isaac, 2021

In 2020, the Swanson Studio had lost contact with the owner of the painting, and work had halted on “Abraham and Isaac” due to the COVID-19 lockdown. The project was put aside, and John August Swanson worked on “The Storm, 2020”, and “The Canticle, 2020”.

Proof of the uncompleted “Migrant Workers” Poster, May 2021

At the beginning of 2021, Swanson continued work on the paintings for the smaller scenes, and corrections had been completed on many of the faces in the artwork. During the lockdown, Swanson had heard of how migrant workers had to continue to work close to each other without any COVID protections, and wanted to use the smaller paintings on a poster for migrant worker rights.

In May of 2021, Swanson was too weak to continue to work on his paintings. Work on “Abraham and Isaac” and the migrant worker poster stopped, but work continued on “Ecclesiastes, 2022” until John August Swanson passed away on September 23, 2021.

Some of the Linework and Metallic Colors for the New Abraham and Isaac Giclee

After the posthumous releases of “Ecclesiastes, 2022”, “Nativity, 2022”, “Shepherds, 2023”, and the “Psalm 23 Poster, 2024“, the Swanson Studio began work on “Abraham and Isaac”. We look forward to finally completing this project soon, and to bringing this artwork to all of John August Swanson’s friends and collectors.

Current Working Proof for the new Abraham and Isaac Giclee Edition

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