Ank Spronk - Two white birds

Embossing/blind printing by Ank Spronk.
Title: Two white birds.
Dimensions incl. passe-partout: H 24 X W 30 cm. Dimensions of work: H 12.8 x W 9.2 cm.
The work is signed by the artist in pencil at the bottom right.
This work was given as a gift by Ank Spronk to her sister Greet Volger-Feenstra. (Maiden name Feenstra). Now the work is in my possession (granddaughter of Greet). Due to the family background this work has an extra historical value. It is also a family heirloom.
Artist background information: Ank Spronk (Arnhem, 1919) graduated in 1940 from the Genootschap Kunstoefening in Arnhem, in the field of illustration. It was not until 1970 that she got around to making a career out of what she had learned. She intuitively developed a completely unique etching style and she still applies it to this day. Her oeuvre includes many hundreds of etchings, in which her three great loves can be found: cats, landscapes and Russia. Cats in a forest under a full moon, among the ruins, sleeping in the evening sun, looking at each other or the cyclists in the distance. In her etchings she knows how to evoke a very unique atmosphere in beautiful, subdued colours with a preference for Prussian blue and red-brown. 'Fairytale-like', 'paradise-like' and 'mysterious' are terms that are regularly used to characterise her work. She works either very finely or with larger surfaces. She applies both techniques in both large and very small formats. Because of her fine etchings she is sometimes compared to Gustav Doré.
Ank Spronk was a member of the Dutch Association for Ex Libris and other small graphics and regularly produces ex libris on commission. The booklet 'De katten van Ank Spronk' contains approximately 70 works from Ank Spronk's cat oeuvre: etchings from small to large, idiosyncratic portraits of her own cats, Egyptian prints and - of course - a large number of ex libris. It includes a short description of her life and an explanation of the etching process. Her story 'Kattigheden van Micio en Titus' is also included, which was published in 1978 by Pen en Burijn in Ulvenhout in a limited edition.