A Shallot

A close study of a single shallot bulb, treated with the careful attention Takeda gives to her garlic, vine, and seedhead subjects. The print exploits the natural contrast between the shallot's smooth bulb surface and the dry, papery wrappings around its base — material distinctions that lend themselves directly to intaglio's two principal capacities, the descriptive etched line and the tonal aquatint. Hard-ground line work likely traces the curling edges of the dried outer skin, while aquatint, bitten in stages, produces the gradations across the bulb's swollen body and the shadow it casts on the chine-collé support. Pairing naturally with Garlic (2015) and her broader allium and vegetable studies, A Shallot belongs to a sustained body of work in which Takeda treats a single, ordinary kitchen object with the patience and specificity of a still-life printmaker. Edition of thirty impressions, printed by the artist from copperplate.