Joe Tilson’s Delphic Oracle is an exceptional example of the artist’s fascination with antiquity, travel, symbolism and the physical possibilities of printmaking. Created in 1980 as part of his Proscinemi Oracles series, the work was printed at the celebrated Kelpra Studio and published jointly by Kelpra Editions and the Tate Gallery in an edition of just 150. A related impression is held in the Tate collection, acquired directly from Kelpra founders Rose and Chris Prater in 1980.

Far more than a conventional screenprint, Delphic Oracle is an intricately constructed work incorporating screenprint, collage, photography, printed papers, carbon tracing paper and metal paperclips. Tilson brings together fragments gathered from his travels in Greece with imagery drawn from the ancient world, including a photographic image of an archaic relief head, a pomegranate, labyrinth and cube, together with laurel and ivy — symbols associated respectively with Apollo, the earth and Dionysian ritual. Two fragments of ancient Greek poetry concerning the Delphic oracle are also incorporated into the composition.

The work belongs to Tilson’s long-running Proscinemi Oracles project, begun in 1977 and inspired by the ancient practice of leaving an inscription or representation at a sacred place to establish one’s presence there. Tilson transformed this idea into a contemporary meditation on pilgrimage, memory and the traces left by human beings across time. His photographs of ancient Greek sites and the incorporation of found and collected material give the work an archaeological quality, as though the image itself were an assembled relic.

For collectors, Delphic Oracle offers a particularly compelling intersection of British Pop, post-war printmaking, collage and classical antiquity, while its publication by Kelpra Editions and the Tate Gallery places it within an important chapter of British print history. The combination of a limited edition, highly tactile mixed-media construction, significant institutional association and richly layered subject matter makes this a work with both strong visual presence and considerable depth for the collector.

Joe TILSON (1928 - 2023)
'Delphic Oracle' 1980
Mixed media on paper
Edition of 150
Image Size: 75 x 54 cm
Dimensions: 85 x 69 cm
Signed: signed, dated and editioned in pencil in margin

Photograph, colour, on paper, printed papers, carbon tracing paper and 2 metal paperclips on screenprint on paper.

From the Kelpra/ Tate Gallery portfolio, printed at Kelpra Studio and published by Kelpra Editions and the Tate Gallery in an edition of 150

The work is held in the collection of the Tate, London, reference P05565.

Condition is very good

(c) The Artist or Assignee