About the work

No one captures eccentric women like Judith Bledsoe, who perhaps lead the pack in eccentricity!

A delightful depiction of a gallant (and quite possibly batty) lady and one of her animal friends, with Judith Bledsoe’s characteristic humor and vitality. Bledsoe always celebrated her own individuality and treasured peculiarity in others!

From the Justification for the Eight Gallant Ladies and Their Animal Friends portfolio:

No, this is not about Eve and her Serpent, Leda and her Swan, Diana and her Stag, or Pasiphae and her Toro—there are no goddesses and no queens . . . nothing to do with Venus, Helen of Troy or with Sheherazade. No mediaeval “Dames” listening to pretty madrigals about endless courtship and chivalry.

These Ladies have replaced their talkative troubadours with dumb friends. They have constructed elaborate hairdos for the men who’ll undo them and who’ll fling their beasts out!

Don’t search for unconscious process to divert sexuality into an acceptable “naivete”.

Eight gallant ladies and their Animal Friends—Beware of them! Remember, their creator’s name is “Judith” and there might well become eight gallant ladies with the head of Holofernes or, who knows, your head, tucked underneath their arm. . . .

Attributes	Value
Condition	Excellent Condition
Date	1970-1980
Type	Modern Print-Makers
Framing	Custom framed and matted using conservation materials
Medium	Lithograph, Print
Signing, Dating, and Titling	Signed and editioned by the artist en recto

Medium:

Etching in colors from copper plates printed on Vélin d’Arches, with a beautiful blind-embossed lace border.

Publisher:

Circle Gallery, Ltd., Chicago

Printer:

The workshop of Michel Vilage, Paris

Date:

c. 1974

Signature:

Hand-signed and dated by the artist in pencil en recto lower right. Titled en verso lower right. Numbered en recto lower left. Bearing the blind stamp of the now-defunct Chicago-based Circle Gallery.

Edition:

Impression number 18 out of the edition of 150.

Framing:

Custom matted and framed in a black metal Nielsen frame behind 99.9% UV-filtering Plexiglass. All conservation and archival materials.

Condition:

Excellent condition.

Framed Size:

13 in. (h) x 20 in. (w)

Sheet Size:

15 in. (h) x 12 in. (w)

Window Size:

8.625 in. (h) x 6.875 in. (w)