Charles Eckart - prints and biography
American Printmaker Exploring Nature Through Expressive Line
By: Charles Eckart
Midnight Ride is a fine press bound book of 30 original etchings by Charles Eckart. Each etching was created as a Christmas card for family and friends over the past 48 years. The images vary in tone and theme, including humor, landscapes and still lifes. The page size is 10-1/2 x 13.
The book was designed in collaboration with Alan Hillesheim of Digger Pine Press in Oakland, CA. they was bound by John DeMerritt in Emeryville, CA. Each book is covered with silk and rayon Japanese bookcloth. The slipcase is covered with an Italian natural finish cotton/linen bookcloth.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: soft ground etching with aquatint
Image Size: 10.5 x 8 inches
Edition size: unknown
Year: 2011
Charles Eckart’s The Studio (2011) invites the viewer into a serene landscape rendered with exquisite detail. The soft ground etching with aquatint reveals a secluded artist’s studio nestled among trees, where light filters through foliage and quiet fields lead the eye into depth. Eckart’s fine, rhythmic linework captures both the intimacy of place and the natural abundance of Northern California’s countryside—a setting that mirrors his lifelong dedication to observation and craft.
There is also a fine Press book including each of the prints along with notation which is available HERE.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: hardground and softground etching
Image Size: 12.63 x .75 inches
Edition Size: 4
Year: 1995
In Thru the Woods (1995), Charles Eckart merges abstraction with the rhythms of nature. Using hardground and softground etching, he builds an intricate lattice of lines that suggest the dense tangle of branches and undergrowth glimpsed while moving through a forest. The work’s energetic mark-making captures both motion and stillness—an interplay between observation and intuition that defines much of Eckart’s mature printmaking.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: hard ground etching with aquatint
Image Size: 8 x 10.5 inches
Edition size: 50
Year: 1977
Created in 1977, Winged Figure 21477 demonstrates Charles Eckart’s early mastery of etching techniques and his fascination with movement and transformation. The winged form, drawn in quick, expressive lines, seems to rise through an atmosphere of light and shadow. Using hard ground etching with aquatint, Eckart evokes a sense of energy and mystery—an abstract study of flight that bridges the physical and the spiritual.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: softground etching
Image Size: 15.75 x 15.75 inches
In Plum, Charles Eckart transforms the softground etching process into a field of rich, layered texture. Deep reds, violets, and browns weave together in a dense tapestry of organic forms, evoking foliage or the pulsing rhythm of nature seen up close. The composition blurs the line between landscape and abstraction, inviting the viewer to experience color and movement as intertwined sensations rather than separate subjects.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: soft ground etching with aquatint
Image Size: 8 x 10.5 inches
Edition size: unknown
Year: 2007
Charles Eckart’s Rising Moon (2007) captures the stillness and mystery of night through the velvety texture of soft ground etching and aquatint. The moon’s faint glow emerges through a dense silhouette of trees, illuminating the quiet landscape with subtle gradations of light and shadow. This print reflects Eckart’s poetic attention to natural rhythm and atmosphere, qualities that define his long tradition of creating intimate, hand-printed Christmas cards for friends and family.
There is also a fine Press book including each of the prints along with notation which is available HERE
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: soft ground etching with aquatint
Image Size: 10.5 x 8 inches
Edition size: unknown
Year: 2008
Charles Eckart’s The Gift (2008) is a quietly tender image that reveals the artist’s warmth and humor within his finely crafted etchings. A small mole emerges from its burrow, clutching a morsel in its paws, rendered with the same delicate linework and sensitivity Eckart brings to his landscapes. Through his soft ground etching and aquatint technique, he transforms a simple moment of nature into a meditation on curiosity, generosity, and the quiet presence of life beneath the surface.
Charles Eckart created Christmas cards for friends and family for more than 48 years. There is also a fine Press book including each of the prints along with notation which is available HERE
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: hardground and softground etching
Image Size: 15.25 x 11.75 inches
Edition Size: 3
Year: 1977
In Soft Ground Doodle (1977), Charles Eckart turns the etching process into a spontaneous act of drawing. Using both hardground and softground techniques, he creates an energetic field of blue linear forms that appear to float freely across the surface. The work reflects Eckart’s fascination with gesture and improvisation — a visual map of motion, thought, and intuition. Despite the apparent freedom of the marks, there is a subtle rhythm and balance that reveals the artist’s deep understanding of structure within abstraction.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: Drypoint
Image Size: 10.5 x 8 inches
Edition size: 50
Year: 1978
In Winged Figure 1379 (1978), Charles Eckart explores the tension between grace and turbulence through sweeping, expressive linework. The drypoint medium heightens the immediacy of each gesture, producing rich, velvety blacks that define the dynamic form of a figure emerging from shadow. The work evokes both flight and struggle—an archetypal image of energy released and transformed.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: etching with aquatint
Image Size: 10.5 x 8 inches
Edition size: 50
Year: 1978
In Winged Figure 111878 (1978), Charles Eckart uses etching and aquatint to depict a solitary, luminous figure rising against a field of darkness. The delicate cross-hatching and tonal depth create an almost celestial atmosphere, where light seems to emerge from within the form itself. The piece balances spiritual resonance with the artist’s signature precision, transforming gesture into radiance.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: soft ground etching with aquatint
Image Size: 10.5 x 8 inches
Edition size: 50
Year: 1978
Winged Figure 72177 (1978) by Charles Eckart conveys a charged moment of emergence—a form lifting through shadow into a storm of motion and light. The soft ground etching and aquatint techniques combine to create a dense, atmospheric field where the figure appears both human and elemental. Eckart’s linework vibrates with energy, giving shape to transformation and ascent.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: hardground and softground etching
Image Size: 15.75 x 15.75 inches
The intricate density of the forest floor transforms into a rich tapestry of pattern and texture. Through the combination of hardground and softground etching, Eckart captures the entanglement of vines, leaves, and branches with both precision and spontaneity. The composition evokes a sense of endless organic growth—nature rendered as abstraction, alive with rhythm and movement.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: softground etching
Image Size: 11 x 11 on BFK Rives paper
Sheet size: 16 x 15 inches
Edition of 15
Year: 2000
Charles Eckart’s No. 14 (2000) immerses the viewer in a dense web of organic motion and color. Executed as a softground etching, the image builds a layered surface of intricate textures, with dark networks of line interwoven with tones of red, ochre, and pale gray. The composition feels both spontaneous and controlled—suggesting foliage, earth, or the flux of natural forces without resolving into direct representation.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: Etching
Image Size: 12 x 17.5 inches
Year: 2017
Edition of 10
Charles Eckart’s Dancers (2017) reveals a rhythmic interplay of line and form that evokes motion within nature’s dense structure. Executed as a black-and-white etching, the composition is alive with intertwining, branch-like forms that twist and rise like figures in motion. The image balances chaos and order, merging the spontaneous energy of abstract gesture with the organic grace of natural movement. One of Eckart’s later works, Dancers exemplifies his lifelong exploration of landscape as metaphor for vitality and transformation.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: softground etching
Image Size: 15.75 x 15.75 inches
Edition size: 10
Year: 2006
Charles Eckart’s October (2006) evokes the richness and transience of autumn through a field of intricate color and texture. Created as a softground etching, the work merges layers of rust, crimson, and gold into a dense, organic surface that suggests the shifting patterns of fallen leaves or forest floor. The composition radiates warmth and motion, balancing abstraction with echoes of the natural world—a hallmark of Eckart’s mature printmaking style.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: color soft ground etching
Edition of 7
Image Size: 11x16"
Paper Size: 15x19.75"
Charles Eckart’s Tomasini Creek Wilderness explores the quiet density of natural forms through an intricate network of etched lines and subtle tonal variations. Executed as a color soft ground etching, the work evokes the layered rhythms of wilderness growth—branches, underbrush, and unseen pathways merging into a textured abstraction. The colored border subtly frames the field, heightening the sense of contained energy and deep observation that defines Eckart’s approach to landscape.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: color soft ground etching
Edition of 7
Image Size: 11x16"
Paper Size: 15x19.75"
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: soft ground etching
Image Size: 8.5 x 6.75 inches
Edition Size: 5
Year: 1978
In Sound of the Wind, Charles Eckart captures the sensation of motion and atmosphere through the delicate interplay of etched line and tone. The soft ground etching conveys a rhythmic flutter suggestive of wind moving through unseen forms—fluid, organic, and quietly lyrical. With its restrained palette and finely worked surface, this 1978 print exemplifies Eckart’s sensitivity to both the physical process of etching and the intangible qualities of natural movement.
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: hardground and softground etching
Image Size: 3.5 × 5 inches
Edition size: 100
Year: 2000
Charles Eckart created Christmas cards for friends and family for more than 48 years. There is also a fine Press book including each of the prints along with notation which is available HERE
Charles Eckart
Charles Eckart: Etching the Essence of Nature
Born in 1935 in Oakland, California, Charles Eckart's artistic journey was profoundly influenced by his upbringing in the majestic landscapes of Yosemite Valley. This early immersion in nature's grandeur laid the foundation for a lifelong exploration of form, texture, and the interplay between the tangible and the abstract.
Eckart's formal art education began at the University of the Pacific, followed by studies at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, where he was mentored by notable artists such as Lorser Feitelson, John Altoon, and Louis Danziger. He further honed his skills at the San Francisco Art Institute. In 1966, Eckart embarked on his printmaking journey, establishing his own press and integrating etching into his artistic repertoire. His etchings have consistently paralleled the evolution of his painting, reflecting shifts in subject matter and technique.
Initially, Eckart's work was characterized by expressionist figurative imagery, capturing the human form with dynamic lines and emotive gestures. However, a significant transition occurred in 1985 when he relocated from San Francisco to the serene environs of Point Reyes. This move marked a shift in focus from the human figure to the natural landscape, leading to the creation of abstracted landscapes that resonate with energy and texture.
Eckart's "Ground Cover" series exemplifies this evolution. These etchings, derived from direct observations of the intimate landscape, are constructed through the meticulous layering of pigment, akin to the process of painting. This approach results in works that are rich in texture and depth, inviting viewers to engage with the subtle complexities of the natural world.
Throughout his career, Eckart has maintained a strong presence in the art community, exhibiting regularly with the Charles Campbell Gallery from 1980 to 1989 and with the Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery from 1990 to 2000. His works have been featured in various exhibitions, including "Adventures of the Optic Nerve" at the Seager Gray Gallery, which highlighted his intelligent compositions and the deliberate application of pigment resulting in luscious surfaces.
Eckart's contributions to the field of printmaking are also recognized in public collections. Notably, the Triton Museum of Art holds his etching "Untitled Head," reflecting his exploration of form and abstraction.
Related artists working in gestural and expressive abstraction:
By: Charles Eckart
Medium: Drypoint
Image Size: 8 x 8 inches
Edition size: 11
Year: 1987
In Untitled (Head ) (1987), Charles Eckart explores the tension between structure and chaos. The drypoint technique gives this abstract portrait a raw immediacy—fine linear scaffolding intersecting with an explosion of gestural marks. The composition feels psychological, suggesting thought, energy, or dissolution rather than identity. It’s an image of a mind in flux, rendered with Eckart’s controlled intensity and expressive line.