Natalia Lauricella, PhD, Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University, has been awarded the 2023 Schulman and Bullard Article Prize. Now in its ninth year, this award is given by the Association of Print Scholars (APS) to an article published by an early-career scholar that features compelling and innovative research on prints or printmaking. Lauricella’s article, “The Master Printer’s Labor: Crafting the Color Art Lithograph in Fin-de-Siècle France,” was published in Nouvelles de l’estampe (no. 267) in 2022.
In her article, Lauricella examines the role of the printer in large lithography companies in late nineteenth-century France, such as that of Lemercier, and small workshops, such as Auguste Clot’s atelier. As one juror noted, Lauricella “provides a nuanced discussion of the importance of craft, skill, and labor in the industrial machine that was lithography around 1890 […] While a good deal has been written about Clot, his printing practices, and artistic collaborations in the past, the author adds a new element to these arguments by questioning the intersections between creativity and labor.” Another juror commented: “Culled from an impressive variety of primary sources including treatises, advertisements, letters, photographs, working printmakers, and the prints themselves, the author builds a comprehensive view of both the labor and artistry of the printer […] This article meets the highest standard for contribution to the field, quality of research and clarity of argument.” Lauricella’s publication emphasizes the crucial but sometimes overlooked expertise of printers in both commercial and fine art lithography firms, making her article a relevant case study for curators, conservators, collectors, and print scholars of any time period.
An Honorable Mention has also been awarded to Maureen Warren, PhD, Curator of European and American Art at the Krannert Art Museum, for her essay, “What Wonders, What News! Political Prints in the Dutch Republic,” in Paper Knives, Paper Crowns: Political Prints in the Dutch Republic, ed. Maureen Warren (Champaign, IL: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2022).
APS would like to acknowledge and thank this year’s jurors for their diligence and generosity in reading the submissions: Jay Clarke (Rothman Family Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago); Deborah LaCamera (Art Conservator, Studio TKM Associates); and Patricia Mainardi (Professor Emeritus in the Doctoral Program in Art History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York).
The Schulman and Bullard Article Prize, which carries a $2,000 award, is generously sponsored by Susan Schulman and Carolyn Bullard and celebrates innovative contributions by early-career scholars to the field. Following the mission of APS, articles submitted for the prize can focus on printmaking across any geographic region and all chronological periods. APS is currently accepting submissions for the 2024 prize, the deadline for which is January 31, 2024. Please visit the APS website for more details about submitting an article for consideration: https://printscholars.org/awards/
APS is a non-profit organization for print enthusiasts that brings together a diverse community of curators, collectors, academics, graduate students, artists, conservators, critics, independent scholars, and art dealers. APS aims to encourage innovative and interdisciplinary print scholarship and to facilitate dialogue among its members. Over 550 people from all over the world have joined APS since it was founded in 2014.