Nancy Graves

In 1991, the artist Nancy Graves collaborated with the writer Pedro Cuperman on Tango, a large folio published by Iris Editions in New York. Eight intaglio prints by Graves and thirteen pages of text by Cuperman that celebrate the social and physical intricacies of the Latin American dance that gives the folio its name. With master printer Deli Sacilotto, Graves worked for the first time with the technique of direct gravure.

Graves remarked on several occasions: 'There is nothing more challenging and meaningful than making black and white prints.' Paradoxically, though she was a renowned colorist, her nine black-and-white prints rank among her most powerful works. The cryptic titles of the prints were selected by Graves from Cuperman’s text, who describes tango as a ritual that gradually unfolds, concluding: 'Tango helps you find your own levels of proximity.'