Graphic work

Like Tamayo’s mixografía, it gave a print true texture. But where Tamayo resolved every tone on a single plate, Byron cut a separate acrylic plate for each color, building the image over a black lithographic key drawn on stone, and adding the coarsest texture — resins, marble dust or charcoal — last, so the press would not flatten it.

Each plate was colored by hand with a brush, not a roller, and printed on paper made for him in Mexico by an Italian craftsman. One plate per color is why his prints keep a luminous, unmuddied color. His graphic work also included etching, drypoint, soft ground and aquatint.