Kaiko MOTI "L'Aiglon" Aqua-Tinted Color Etching, Signed in Graphite

This lyrical Kaiko MOTI "L'Aiglon" Aqua-Tinted Color Etching, Signed in Graphite originated in India, circa 1970. The sheet presents a solitary bird alluded to in the title as "L'Aiglon" (Golden Eagle) set against a luminous aqua tinted ground. Broad fields of deep teal and sea green sit above warmer ochre and rust tones, producing a painterly color field that frames the figure. The bird is rendered through a mix of fine etched line and broader tonal passages that read as aquatint like textures, giving the plumage a tactile, feathered appearance while the head and beak remain crisply delineated. Plate margins display a soft irregular edge and evidence of multi stage inking that yields subtle registration shifts and layered color passages. The impression reads as a color etching executed with careful modulation of ink saturation and overprinting to achieve depth and delicate mottling. A graphite signature and edition notation appear in the lower margin, and the print is float mounted beneath a wide cream mat and housed in a narrow gilt and black gallery frame that complements the work's cool and warm palette. The interplay of etched line, tonal aquatint effects, and color printing produces a richly variegated surface and a focused central motif. Excellent Vintage Condition. Kaiko Moti, born Kaikobad Motiwalla in Bombay in 1921 and active in Europe as a painter and printmaker until his death in Paris in 1989, is recorded by Getty ULAN as an Indian painter, printmaker, and engraver. Biographical sources place his training first in Bombay, then at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, followed by study in Paris, where he worked with Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17. His importance rests chiefly in intaglio printmaking: sources on Atelier 17 credit Moti, alongside Krishna Reddy, within the development of “viscosity” or simultaneous color printing, a method using inks of different viscosities to print multiple colors from a single plate.

India, circa 1970