First Stone

As its title indicates, this is the first print that Bontecou made. It was produced by drawing with lithographic crayon directly on limestone. As she described: “I was just testing things out on a stone. It was the first I’d ever done, so I just took different symbols and worked them out. I didn’t try to think of a composition. I just put it all on.” Nevertheless, the forms—her signature black holes, cosmic bursts, insect-like carapaces, mutant sea creatures—are laid out with careful attention to the composition.