Many of the greatest artists since Dürer and Rembrandt have used the print medium to explore some of their most important ideas. Paula Rego is in this tradition, giving full rein to her imagination in both etching and lithography, and using the media with exuberance to create work that is as disturbing, erotic and powerful as her paintings.

This sumptuously produced book, now expanded and updated and featuring reproductions in tritone and colour, discusses and illustrates all Rego’s prints, including unpublished work. The second edition includes chapters on five new series produced since 2003 – Moon Eggs, Prince Pig, Wine, Curved Planks and Female Genital Mutilation; on the influence of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s work on Rego; and an updated section of Works Out of Series.

Many of Rego’s prints are based on themes, as she says that one image triggers the idea for the next. Among these are Rego’s Nursery Rhymes, which reveal a darkly humorous take on the difficulties of childhood, and provide a rich seam for her precocious girls and individually characterized animals. Her work is known for revealing complex stories about the sinister side of sexuality and family relations, and Rego’s feminism underlies everything she does: the six works in the Female Genital Mutilation series are some of the most powerful images that she has ever produced.

T. G. Rosenthal, a long-time supporter of Rego’s work, discusses the background to each series, and comments on each print. He also quotes extensively from his and others’ conversations with the artist, underlining Rego’s subversive humour and her strongly feminist outlook.

This unique source of information on a major aspect of this leading artist’s work includes
• A fully illustrated catalogue raisonné
• A description of Rego’s etching techniques by artist and printmaker Paul Coldwell
• An updated chronology, list of exhibitions and bibliography

T. G. Rosenthal, former art critic of The Listener and of The New Statesman, has contributed to several other publications, including Studio International, Modern Painters, Art Review, The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent on Sunday. He has broadcast many times on BBC Radio 3. Among his books are The Art of Jack B. Yeats, Sidney Nolan, Josef Albers, Formulation : Articulation and L. S. Lowry: The Art and the Artist. He holds the degree of Ph.D in Fine Arts from Cambridge University.