Bestiaire 09

Unique and emphatic in style, this collection comes from a series of engravings made by artist Abraham Krol (1919–2001). Born in Poland, Krol emigrated to France in 1938, where he studied sculpture and painting when not serving as a mechanic in the Foreign Legion. After the war, he learned engraving from Joseph Hect, and was soon a well-recognized and lauded master of the craft. In this series, Krol used shaped plates to create a slight relief around the edges, a nod to his days as a sculptor and reflected here in the textured line work, shading and sharp outlines. A devout Jew, Krol’s work was often influenced by scripture, and these depictions suggest an Old Testament view of the relationship between man and beast.