#(54)ANNUNCIATION: :

Edition of 398 of which 100 copies are signed 1-100, 15 are signed 1-15 and hand inscribed "Christmas Greetings 1975 from Joseph and Laurie Alaimo," 26 are signed A-Z as artist's proofs, 25 signed copies without blues or gold, and four sets of the complete poster are signed as progressives.

December 1, 1975 15" x 24" Eight colors

Influence: After the portrait of Donna Giovane (portrait of a lady variously thought to be Simonetta Vespucci, Clarice Orsini, Fioretta Gorini, &c.), Sandro Botticelli (1444? - 1510)

Model: Marlene Rae Friedman

Client: Joseph and Laurie Alaimo, San Francisco

1-100: Saint Hieronymus Press, Inc.
1-15: Joseph & Laurie Alaimo
A-Z: Artist's own use
Progressives: Saint Hieronymus Press, Inc.
25 without blues and gold (five colors): Artist's own use

Imagine how you might feel if you were suddenly, without warning, told that you were to be the mother of a god. The vehicle for an earthly manifestation of the creator of all things, the all-powerful, all-knowing deity. The swelling fruit seeded with everlasting destiny. You would be stunned, appalled, terrified. You would be utterly helpless, caught in a caress of unimaginable strength. You would neither like it nor dislike it. Your opinion was not sought and was not wanted, and in any event was of no importance.

Known by no man, your belly fills out like the sail of a ship, like the full moon, and in the warm heartbeat darkness a child forms in an ordinary manner, and is born in an ordinary manner, and needs your care and love. What a strange notion to hold God Himself to your breast; to love God like a mother; to pick up this chubby dimpled baby and pat Him and powder Him and know that He was not an ordinary child at all. Even God needed a mother's love, and perhaps in His hour of torment called out to her in agony for the help that we all cry out for when our own anguish comes upon us.