Some of the highlights of the Honolulu Museum of Art’s collection of Japanese prints are its nearly 300 “primitive ukiyo-e”– those works produced during the first century of the movement’s history (1670s–1760s). Predating the invention of multiblock printing, these images relied heavily upon the fundamentals of graphic design, particularly line variation and bold tonal contrast, to evoke emotional responses from the viewer. In addition, some artists painted their finished prints, transforming them into truly unique treasures.

This rotation focuses upon three pioneers of ukiyo-e: the designers Hishikawa Moronobu (1631–1694) and Torii Kiyomasu II (1706–1763) as well as their publisher, Urokogataya Magobei (active c.1687 – c.1811). Moronobu, represented here with excerpts from his woodblock-printed book A Series of Pictures of Beautiful Women, created visual tension through his use of diagonals and rendered both text and figures with calligraphic linework. Kiyomasu II, alternately, enveloped his figures in intricate, lyrical patterns punctuated by carefully chiseled areas of stark black. The subtle aesthetic influence of their publisher, Magobei, can be gleaned through a comparison of these two artists’ styles.

The art of German printmaker, sculptor, and teacher Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) bears witness to experiences of poverty, injustice, and loss in a society troubled by turbulent political change and devastated by two world wars. Spanning all five decades of her career, Kollwitz's prodigious graphic work—notable for its affecting imagery and technical virtuosity—asserts her commitment to social advocacy and her pursuit of artistic excellence.

Kollwitz's reputation flourished during a printmaking renaissance in late 19th- and early 20th-century Germany. The artist embraced the print's capacity to disseminate her designs to a wide audience. As she explored the formal and expressive possibilities of different processes, Kollwitz generated numerous preparatory sheets, including drawings, trial prints, and working proofs. These rich sequences of images vividly document the evolution of her ideas, both artistic and political.

All works in the exhibition are from the Getty Research Institute's Dr. Richard A. Simms Collection of Prints and Drawings by Käthe Kollwitz and Other Artists, which is a partial gift of Dr. Richard A. Simms.

The Neiman Center for Print Studies at Columbia University in New York has hired Samantha Rippner, who previously served as curator of modern and contemporary prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for fifteen years, as its new associate director. In her new role, Rippner will help oversee Neiman Gallery’s exhibition program, coordinate special projects and educational initiatives at the Center, and strengthen external partnerships.

Rippner first joined the Met while earning her Master’s degree from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and has held the positions of research assistant and curatorial assistant before being named curator in 2002. During her tenure, Rippner organized the museum’s first mural commission “Nicola Lopez’s Unbuilding Things” (2013) as well as the exhibitions “Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914–1939” (2008), and “The Prints of Vija Celmins” (2002) among other shows. She also worked as guest curator at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University in California and, most recently, as a freelance curator.

“Samantha’s resume speaks for itself, and we’re absolutely thrilled to have her on staff,” said Tomas Vu-Daniel, who has helmed the Neiman Center since it was founded in 1996. “When it comes to the study of printmaking, she brings decades of valuable experience, and a new pair of eyes that will allow us to continue meeting the highest standards for our shows, works, and new projects.”

(Press release, Columbia University, 11/26/2019)

CUE Art Foundation is pleased to present Chalk Lines, a solo exhibition by Sarah Amos, curated by Barbara Takenaga. Amos, a Tamarind Master Printer, works with large-scale collagraph prints on felt, built up in layers and adorned with hand-stitching and appliqué. In this new body of work, each print holds a world of dynamic textures, patterns, and abstract marks that are simultaneously familiar and imagined, conjuring tactile environments constructed from the assembled surfaces and images.

Collagraphy is an intaglio inspired practice in which the printmaker incises, abrades, and applies various textural substances to a flat surface. These collages and lines are then hand inked and printed onto another surface, traditionally paper. The techniques employed by Amos during this process are intimately physical; the artist cuts and scratches into cardboard that she uses to apply ink to felt, which she then adorns with free-form stitching. Although she is engaging with the vocabulary of printmaking, Amos strays from its traditions with her use of felt and thread. Sewing with thread by hand breaks the surface of the print and disrupts the conventions of the medium. It also increases the time and labor required to complete each work and evokes associations with historically gendered craft making and the Pattern and Decoration movement. This process results in images that are not only striking for their visual depth, but also for the ways in which their surfaces rise and fall with the accumulation of material, each woven into the next with wandering trails of thread.

Amos’ methods also facilitate play, repetition, and the manipulation of images. By transferring and overlaying these images, the surface becomes a tool for fragmenting or masking the otherworldly figures depicted. Many of the works have been printed on pitch black backgrounds, suggesting that their scenes might take place on a moonless night or in outer space, enveloping the viewer in a blanket of darkness. Sumru Tekin writes, “Working in opposition to the traditions of printmaking and notions of the vernacular, she pushes against fixed identities, gently rejecting the notion of a singular influence…Amos’s work extends beyond cultural specificity, as the materials and visual elements carry open-ended meanings and associations. Amos uses these collected inventions to reconfigure any preconceived readings, setting them in new directions.”

The acclaimed artist reflects on her artistic practice and printmaking techniques with Met curators.

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Renaissance of Etching.

This winter the New Mexico Museum of Art will host The birth, death and resurrection of Christ: from Michelangelo to Tiepolo on view January 25, 2020 – April 19, 2020. This traveling exhibition of more than fifty drawings and prints, organized by the British Museum from their extensive collection, tells the story of Italian art beginning with the Renaissance and ending in the 18th century through an examination of how artists have depicted the saga of Christ.

With works from artists including Michelangelo, Fra Bartolommeo, Parmigianino, and Fra Filippo Lippi this exhibition is a survey of over 400 years of Italian art history. “It is a special treat to experience the work of Renaissance masters like Michelangelo that rarely make it to the States right here in Santa Fe” commented Christian Waguespack, Curator of 20th Century Art at the New Mexico Museum of Art. “The opportunity to share these historic Italian treasures with our local audience helps us fulfill part of the museum’s mission to bring the art of the world to New Mexico.”

The exhibition focuses on the three major stages of Christ’s life: his incarnation, in the form of the Nativity; his Crucifixion; and finally the Resurrection, exploring the different ways that artists envisioned these moments. During the period covered by this exhibition, religious themes were the prevailing subject matter for a vast majority of artists. Patrons such as the Catholic Church or private devotees often prescribed the religious narratives they wanted, but for artists reinterpreting conventional biblical stories in innovative ways was an opportunity to prove their skill.

“You certainly don’t need to be Catholic, religious, or spiritual to enjoy the artworks in this exhibition,” explained Waguespack. “These prints and drawings stand alone as testaments to human skill, artistic refinement, and imaginative innovations that have come to define the Italian Renaissance in the popular imagination. This exhibition is as much a story about art in Italy as it is the life of Christ.”

This selection of artworks, beginning circa 1440 and ending in 1829, charts the evolving depictions of Christ’s story, while also providing a broad overview of the functional purposes, techniques, and major artistic trends of the era. This group of images also traces the role of prints and drawings during this period which served mainly as preparation for larger paintings or objects of personal devotion.

The birth, death and resurrection of Christ: from Michelangelo to Tiepolo was curated by Hugo Chapman, Simon Sainsbury Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and one of the world’s leading authorities on Michelangelo’s drawings, and Sarah Vowles, Hamish Swanston Curator of Italian and French Prints and Drawings. This exhibition brings together 53 prints and drawings selected from the museum’s unparalleled graphic collection of more than 50,000 drawings and two million prints dating from the fifteenth century to today. New Mexico Museum of Art will be the second venue to experience this traveling exhibition, which opened in San Diego in September.

Press Release from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs (November 1, 2019; Santa Fe, NM)

This major exhibition, which opens on the day the Museo Nacional del Prado celebrates its 200th anniversary, is the result of the work undertaken for the creation of a new catalogue raisonné of Goya’s drawings, made possible through the collaborative agreement signed by the Fundación Botín and the Museo del Prado in 2014.

For the first time and in a unique and unrepeatable occasion, the exhibition brings together more than 300 of Goya’s drawings from both the Prado’s own holdings and from private and public collections world-wide. The result is a chronological survey of the artist’s work that includes drawings from every period of his career, from the Italian Sketchbook to those created in Bordeaux. In addition, the exhibition offers a modern perspective on the ideas that recur throughout Goya’s work, revealing the ongoing relevance and modernity of his thinking.

Co-organised by the Fundación Botín and jointly curated by José Manuel Matilla, Chief Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Museo Nacional del Prado, and Manuela Mena, Chief Curator of 18th-century Painting and Goya at the Prado until January 2019, the exhibition is on display in Rooms A and B of the Jerónimos Building until 16 February 2020.

On 19 November 1819 the new museum opened its doors to the public, at that date still a royal museum and comprising works from the exceptional collections of painting and sculpture assembled by Spain’s monarchs over more than 300 years. While Goya was still living in Madrid, three of his paintings - the two equestrian portraits of Charles IV and María Luisa de Parma and the Horseman with a Pike - were already hanging in the room that led into the Museum’s central gallery. Over the succeeding years the Museum would assemble the finest collection of Goya’s work, comprising around 150 paintings, 500 drawings, all the artist’s print series and a unique body of documentation in the form of his letters to his friend Martín Zapater.

This exhibition, which is the result of the remarkable richness of the Museo del Prado’s collections and of the work undertaken to prepare a new catalogue raisonné of Goya’s drawings in collaboration with the Fundación Botin, aims to reveal the different aspects that determine the meaning of the artist’s sketchbooks and print series.

The SOLAR IMPRESSIONS juried exhibition, featuring works created by means of the scientific breakthrough of light sensitive plates, is sponsored by Inspiration Plus Foundation, a 501 c-3 non profit organization dedicated to creating art that celebrates and educates through science. Over one hundred impressions were selected from more than 700 entries from across the United States, Ireland, Israel, England, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Canada, Spain, and France. The esteemed jury consisted of Laura Einstein, manager of the Mezzanine Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Alex Ferrone, owner/director of the Alex Ferrone Gallery in Cutchogue, NY; and Ron Pokrasso, Santa Fe artist and world printmaking traveler. The awards juror is the acclaimed international artist Eric Fischl, who will be presenting 40 individual awards worth over $28,000 to the numerous works.

Noteworthy are the health, safety, and environmental factors involved in the use of light sensitive plates, constituting the scientific side of the show’s theme: All images showcased were processed with sunlight (or UV light) and ordinary tap water to harden and etch the light sensitized steel backed polymer plates. No acids or hazardous chemicals needed to be used for this technique.

INTERNATIONAL MASTERS/ COLLABORATIONS IN PRINT WITH DAN WELDEN
Since 1971, Dan Welden has been collaborating with artists using stone lithography and etching. His studio, Hampton Editions, Ltd., has been the home and birthplace of thousands of many young and old artists exploring the potential of the printmaking world. The exhibition, having originated at the Cape Cod Museum in 2017, concentrates on international artists that have collaborated directly with Welden to produce high quality impressions. Each artist created specific works either directly on Bavarian limestone or with the Solarplate polymer printmaking technique. Works created were NOT REPRODUCED from pre-existing drawings or paintings and were all intended for the sole purpose of the fine art print. All impressions were hand inked and ‘pulled’ from presses on papers from England, France, Germany or Italy.

This exhibition includes works by Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Kiki Smith, Esteban Vicente, Dan Flavin, James Brooks, Eric Fischl, Robert Gwathmey, Paul Davis, Syd Solomon, Roy Nicholson, Jack Youngerman, Robert Dash, Louisa Chase, David Salle, Alfonso Ossorio, Ibram Lassaw, Lynda Benglis, Bill King, Jane Freilicher, Jimmy Ernst, Kurt Vonnegut, and Dan Welden.

In addition to works on view being available for purchase, a special silent art auction will take place including 20 additional works by Solar Impressions artists beginning at 5 PM on Saturday, November 16 and closing at 5 PM on Sunday, December 1. These pieces will be available to take home after November 16, just in time for the holidays.

Special Programs and Events:

Open Portfolio Sessions with Exhibiting Artists
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 12:30-2:30 PM | FREE

Demonstration/Talk with Master Printmakers Dan Welden and Ron Pokrasso
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 3 PM | FREE

Juror’s discussion with Alex Ferrone, Laura G. Einstein and Ron Pokrasso
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 5 PM | FREE

Public Opening Reception and Silent Auction Begins
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16 | 6-8 PM | FREE

Gallery Talk with Dan Welden: Stories and Pictures from Masters de Kooning to Nicholson
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17 | 4 PM | FREE

Solar Plate Workshop for Kids & Adults with Dan Welden
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8 | 3 PM | $20 ($15 for Friends of SAC)

Solar Plate Workshop for Veterans with Dan Welden
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12 | 6 PM | FREE

Closing Day Gallery Tour & Champagne Toast
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29 | 12:30 PM | FREE

Gallery Hours: Thursday to Sunday, 12-6 PM
Admission: $5 (Free for Friends of SAC & Children)

UMMA’s second exhibition of Inuit art derived from the Power Family’s generous promised gift to the Museum in 2018 explores the relationship between the artist and the representation of everyday experiences. Through a selection of mid-century to contemporary Inuit prints, drawings, and sculptures that portray seemingly ordinary reflections of daily life along with daydreaming meditations, the exhibition bridges the mundane and the fantastic. Together, these artworks present a distinct imagery and a visual poetry culled from the day-to-day reality of life in the far polar north. The perspectives range from soaring gazes at the horizon to glimpses of commonplace social interactions. These contemplations reveal intimate connections among the artists, their communities, and their locale—a specific place and time composed of icy regions and vast seas and tundras. Reflections: An Ordinary Day takes visitors on a lyrical journey of the myriad spaces and routines within an Arctic landscape.