Description

This work has an interesting and important history.

George Lockwood, the poet, artist, and master printmaker, was the pressman at the Impressions graphic workshop in Boston. Lockwood invited Bernard Childs to experiment with him with a new letterpress press that Impressions obtained. This work was the very first print made on that press. It was made from a plate which was a collage on a wood base.

Following those experiments at Impressions, Childs set up a press in the Brooklyn garage of Harry Bettum. (Bettum had been the master printer at The Spiral Press in New York.)  The two worked together on the press, which was loaned and subsequently given to them by Steve Andrus, the owner of Impressions Workshop. A number of  experiments and commissions followed.

“The Chasm” (which was also known as the “Chasm”) was not editioned.  There were four black & white trial proofs, of which three were numbered 1/3 to 3/3.  The first of those is owned by the Boston Public Library; the location of the third is unknown.  (Notes of Judith Childs, the artist’s wife and partner, state that eight red & green trial proofs were also printed.)