Capuchin Polyptych

Art Historical Context

The Capuchin Polyptych is a 1963 relief etching by Jerome Kaplan, held in the National Gallery of Art as part of the distinguished Rosenwald Collection. This print captures a moment of experimentation in American graphic arts, when artists expanded traditional printmaking to achieve fresh visual effects. Relief etching combines etching’s chemical bite with a raised printing surface, allowing the artist to produce richly textured impressions that stand out from the paper. In the early 1960s such hybrid methods offered printmakers new ways to explore form, light, and surface while remaining wit...