San Francisco Churches : seven blocks / cut by Rick Barton

Colophon: "80 copies printed by Henry Evans at the Peregrine Press and published at the Porpoise Bookshop, 308 Clement Street, (not far from the Sephardic Synagogue), in San Francisco, in 1959."
Leaves laid in portfolio of heavy olive green paper; title printed in black, in gothic type: "San Francisco Churches. Rick Barton."
Little is known about Barton, who appears to have been an influential figure among a small coterie of gay artists in San Francisco in the 1950s and 60s. Raised in New York City, he may have received some formal art training, but he was a voracious autodidact. Influenced by the primacy of the line in Chinese painting, which he may have encountered on a visit to China in the 1940s while serving in the Navy, he worked primarily in pen or brush and ink. He often drew in coffee shops, such as Foster's Cafeteria beneath the Wentley Hotel, using a yatate, an antique Japanese implement incorporating a portable inkpot and a small brush. He filled sheets and accordion-fold sketchbooks with figures, buildings, and interiors that vibrate with nervous energy. This is one of a number of portfolios of linoleum block prints by Barton that was printed by Henry Evans at San Francisco's Peregrine Press. Churches appear to have been some of his favorite subjects; his unique style of line drawing was particularly well-suited to the depiction of architectural detail and elaborate sculptural ornamentation. He appears to have been inspired by Byzantine icons, placing an image of the exterior of each church in the place traditionally reserved for saints.