ROPS'S CREATIVE PRODUCTION
A constant experimenter with printmaking techniques, Rops was fascinated by processes of creative production. This section of the exhibition provides an overview of the techniques most commonly employed by Rops and explores the ways in which the artist visually treats acts of multimedial making in his works.
La presse, left, depicts some of these forms of printmaking. The top-left lettering reads as an incomplete phrase—“imprimerie en,” or “printing in”—that is filled in by phrases sprinkled throughout the composition: “taille douce” (“soft-ground etching”), “gravures au burin” (“burin engravings”), and “eaux fortes” (“etchings”). The label of the bottle at bottom right encapsulates the theme: “Leçons de gravure à l’eau forte” (“Etching lessons”). Putti playfully turn the wheels of printing presses, prepare plates using inking balls, and examine prints for flaws.