Study for Plate III, from Fifth Stone, Sixth Stone

Study for Plate III, from Fifth Stone, Sixth Stone — Lee Bontecou. 1967–68.

Medium: Crayon with touches of graphite on tan newsprint with orange Conté crayon on verso for transfer to the plate. Dimensions: 17.8 × 24.7 cm (7 1/16 × 9 3/4 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Fifth Stone, Sixth Stone is an illustrated book that includes seven etchings (with aquatint) by Lee Bontecou—six appear in the interior, and the seventh graces the book ’s cloth cover. Text facing the etchings describes the production, a few years earlier, of the lithographs Fifth Stone (1963) and Sixth Stone (1964). The text is by the young poet Tony Towle, who had recently arrived at U.L.A.E. as secretary in 1964 and wrote an account of watching Bontecou make the lithographs Fifth Stone and Sixth Stone . In response, she created several etchings reminiscent of the lithographs. The fact that Bontecou decided to produce etchings that evoke the spirit of the original lithographs is part of the book’s eccentricity. This work is part of the significant holdings in the U.L.A.E. archive owned by the Art Institute that documents the gestation of Fifth Stone, Sixth Stone . In all, the archive includes etching plates; preparatory and transfer drawings; working, trial, and artist’s proofs; as well as a prototype for the box that would contain the book.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.