“American Dukedom” John Wayne Reduction Print – Award Winner

John Wayne dominated cinema from the 30s to the 70s. Bigger than life, “The Duke” owned the silver screen in macho roles like “Flying Leathernecks,” “The Searchers,” “The Green Berets,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” “The Sands of Iwo Jima” and so many others. John Wayne was a perfect fit as the quintessential American Cowboy as well as any number of soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines in a spate of War films.

He personified the rugged individualism of America. Plain spoken, no subterfuge, the Duke was a man who said what he meant and meant what he said. Because of his moniker “The Duke” I titled this print American Dukedom.

For this screen print based on an image of Wayne in “The Searchers” I used a process called reduction. It’s a painstaking process that requires the artist to kind of work in reverse, first putting down the background colors and blocking out portions of the screen so that those areas do not print on the next pass. Each color overlaps the previous one EXCEPT for those areas that have been blocked out. The artist (me) must always be aware of what will print at each step in the process and how that will affect the whole. As a student at the time I was able to enter my print in the Screen Graphics Association show in 2018 and my print was awarded a certificate of merit at the show in 2018.

This is a series of 40 prints, 10 inches by 14 inches on Arches paper, each signed and numbered by me. Because the reduction process is so unique (physically painting in the areas to be blocked out) the prints in this series are truly one-of-a-kind and can never be duplicated. Sales are first come, first served and buyers will receive the lowest number available in the series. Note that each print may contain minor variations and/or slight imperfections inherent in the screen printing process. Once they’re gone, there we be no more originals.

If you’re a fan of Westerns or the Duke himself, you can now own an image of John Wayne as unique as the man himself.