The Alpine Divorce

“Whether John Bodman was sane or insane at the time he made up his mind to murder his wife, will never be known, but there was certainly craftiness in the method he devised to make the crime appear the result of an accident…”

Robert Barr wrote his short story, “An Apline Divorce”, about a man planning to murder his wife whilst hiking in the Swiss Alps in 1893. Today the phrase has gone viral in social media based on the number of women who report the traumatic (and occasionally fatal) experience of being abandoned on a mountain or hiking trail by their partner.¹

My The Alpine Divorce print uses the chine collé method of printmaking. The print is pressed on a thin hemp paper, which is simultaneoulsy fused by natural starch glue to the thicker handmade Abaca paper. This allows me to deliver a clean print on the highly textured surface of this unique, handmade natural-fiber paper.

[1] See The Guardian’s “Women are being abandoned by their partners on hiking trails. What’s behind ‘alpine divorce’?”.

Details

All my relief prints are hand-carved and hand-printed in my home studio using oil-based ink on high quality papers, designed to last a lifetime or more. Limited runs include the edition size, title, and artist signature in pencil underneath the print. Open runs are stamped with my artist seal.

Because all my prints are original hand-made items there will be small variations from piece to piece that give each print its own unique characteristics. Photos are representative, but please be aware that the specific piece that you will receive when making a purchase will have minor variations from the photos shown here.

Edition Size: 20

Dimensions
Print area is 13 X 18.5cm,
Paper size is 6.9 × 9.8 inches / 17.6 × 25.0 cm (B5)

Material: Japanese washi paper / handmade / Abaca Paper (AS紙　OCA＃5) / natural / 45g Ōnao Hemp Paper (大直 麻紙)