Franz Gertsch is a Swiss artist born in 1930, by the early 1970s he was known internationally for large paintings related to photorealism that documented the counter-culture figures of the day. In the 1980s Gertsch's work took a turn inward. In Natascha IV the face seems to float before the viewer, as though it had just materialized. Background is indeterminate and fashion is nearly invisible; the focus is on countenance.

Unlike traditional woodcut techniques in which an instrument is used to carve out a narrow line of wood, Gertsch notches out tiny dots of wood. Viewed cllosely, there are countless white dots; as one moves back the dots materialize into an image of the face. It took Gertsch approximately eight months to prepare the three huge blocks of wood used to print each image and to carry out the laborious printing processes. The paper is handmade and to produce it Gertsch worked with a Japanese paper maker. Natascha IV is from an edition of 18, and each one is printed in a different monochrome. The Art Center's print is a vibrant red, and other images are blue, green, orange, and yellow.

Source: News, January February 1993.