Exhibition Information Posted: 03/27/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Off the Shelf: Modern & Contemporary Artists’ Books (Baltimore)

Rena Hoisington, Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD, United States. 03/12/2017 - 06/25/2017.
The BMA presents more than 130 rarely shown artists’ books and related prints by more than 50 renowned artists, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Grace Hartigan, David Hockney, and Ed Ruscha. Stephen King, Frank O’Hara, and Robert Creeley are among the more than 30 authors represented.

An artist’s book—an artwork conceived of and produced in book form—often reflects the collaborative work of visual artists, writers, printers, and publishers and can vary as widely as artworks in other media. The BMA’s rarely shown collection of artists’ books is presented in 12 thematic groupings of works, such as animals, typography, Pablo Picasso, and Wassily Kandinsky. Among the exhibition highlights are Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1902), Henri Rivière’s Japanese woodcut-inspired images of the French landmark; Bestiary, or The Parade of Orpheus (1911), a book of elaborate animal woodcuts by Raoul Dufy with poems by Guillaume Apollinaire; and Ready for Anything (1958), Joan Miró’s whimsical color woodcuts with text by Paul Éluard. Two other remarkable books are 1¢ Life (1964), 61 vibrant color lithographs by Jim Dine, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and others that accompany poems by Walasse Ting, and The Departure of the Argonaut (1986), a gigantic bound volume with 48 color lithographs by Francesco Clemente and letterpress text by Albert Savinio. More than half of the works have never been exhibited before at the BMA.

The exhibition is the capstone of a collaborative project between the BMA and The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) led by Rena M. Hoisington, Senior Curator of Prints, Drawings & Photographs. Hoisington taught the course “Paper Museums: Exhibiting Artists’ Books at The Baltimore Museum of Art” through JHU’s Program in Museums and Society for 11 undergraduates from JHU, Loyola University Maryland, and the Maryland Institute College of Art. The students helped to determine the checklist and thematic organization of the exhibition as well as write the label texts and blog posts for the books.

For more information about exhibitions, programs, courses, and resources on artists’ books in the Greater Baltimore region, please visit Book Arts Baltimore.
Relevant research areas: 20th Century, Book arts
External Link
Lecture Announcement Posted: 03/23/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

UKIYO-E PRINTS: IMAGES OF THE FLOATING WORLD

Julie Nelson Davis
Organized by The Clark Art Institute
The Clark Art Institute
Williamstown, MA, United States
03/26/2017, 3-4pm
Professor of History of Art Julie Nelson Davis, University of Pennsylvania, presents a lecture on ukiyo-e (“images of the floating world”) prints, considering their subject matter, networks of production, and the historical context in which they were created.
Relevant research areas: East Asia, 18th Century, 19th Century, Relief printing
External Link
Exhibition Information Posted: 03/22/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in Japanese Prints

Japan Society, New York, NY, United States. 03/10/2017 - 06/11/2017.
A Third Gender: Beautiful Youths in Japanese Prints is the first exhibition in North America devoted to the portrayal of wakashu, or beautiful youths—a “third gender” occupying a distinct position in the social and sexual hierarchy of Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868). Featuring over 65 woodblock prints, as well as paintings, luxury objects and personal ornaments, A Third Gender illuminates the richness of lived experience in Edo society, where complex rules governed gender constructs. This groundbreaking exhibition offers a critical artistic and historical context for gender performance and sexual expression, topics that are particularly resonant within society today. Additional exhibition-related programming and events is forthcoming.

This exhibition was originally organized by the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
Relevant research areas: East Asia, Baroque, 18th Century, 19th Century, Relief printing
External Link
Art Market News Posted: 03/22/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Sotheby’s to offer complete set of Goya’s ‘La Tauromaquia’ discovered in Ducal Library, France

Sotheby's London
London, United Kingdom
04/04/2017 , 2pm
La Tauromaquia, the complete set of thirty-three prints by Goya celebrating the artist’s unique understanding of the art of bullfighting, comes to sale from the collection of a French ducal family, having remained undisturbed for decades in a nineteenth-century ledger. Estimated at £300,000-500,000, the prints are virtually flawless examples of the first and only contemporary edition that was printed for Goya from large copperplates etched and aquatinted by him in 1815-1816. Having made the journey from the court of Madrid around the time of their publication, to the château de Montigny in France in 1831 where they remained – eventually forgotten by succeeding generations of the original owner – these exceptional works by an inspired master printmaker will headline Sotheby’s sale of Prints & Multiples in London on 4 April 2017.
Relevant research areas: Western Europe, 19th Century, Etching
External Link
Conference or Symposium Announcement Posted: 03/21/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Image and Book Culture in 13th Century Europe (Wien, 28-30 Jun 17)

Research Centre for Book Painting
Institute of Art History of Vienna University (Pächt Archive)
Wien, Germany
06/28/2017-06/30/2017, 9 am - 5 pm
Participation is free of charge. For organizational reasons, we request an informal registration by email to michaela.schuller@univie.ac.at.

The Sixth Vienna Colloquium on Book Painting is dedicated to the thirteenth century, the beginning of which saw the establishment of the first universities and a transfer of Byzantine art following the conquest of Constantinople – factors that, each with an impetus of its own, were to transform European image- and book-culture in subsequent decades. Alongside the various artistic genres, these factors have generally formed separate fields of investigation, which has inhibited an understanding of the complex processes inherent to this decisive phase of artistic development.

With this colloquium, the Research Centre for Book Painting at the Institute of Art History of Vienna University (Pächt Archive) seeks to address the main lines of development in thirteenth-century art in a discussion that transcends traditional boundaries within the subject. In correspondance with the agenda of the Research Centre, book painting should form a starting point, the dynamics of which will be explored with a view to other artistic genres. Aspects of form, content, and image strategy will be approached from a trans-media perspective, grouped around four focal points: (1) The network of European connections / transfer, (2) Imagery and emotion, (3) Aspects of production (material, models, reworkings), (4) Script, ornament, illustration.
Relevant research areas: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Medieval, Book arts
External Link
Exhibition Information Posted: 03/18/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Robert Rauschenberg: Autobiography

Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA, United States. 03/17/2017 - 08/20/2017.
Exhibiting artist(s): Robert Rauschenberg.
"Robert Rauschenberg: Autobiography" brings together 26 original works of art with 56 archival objects primarily on loan from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and centers on the artist’s monumental print, "Autobiography," (1968). The exhibition is on view at WCMA from March 17 through August 20, 2017.
Relevant research areas: North America, 20th Century, Screenprinting
External Link
Exhibition Information Posted: 03/08/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

The Woodcut: From Dürer to Now

Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, United Kingdom. 03/08/2017 - 06/25/2017.
Drawn from Pallant House Gallery’s acclaimed print collection this exhibition explores how the woodcut was used in a variety of styles, from Albrecht Dürer and the Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige to modern artists such as Edward Wadsworth, Ben Nicholson and Enid Marx. It also includes woodcuts by the contemporary artists Rebecca Salter, Bob and Roberta Smith and Emma Stibbon.
Relevant research areas: Western Europe, East Asia, Renassiance, Baroque, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Contemporary, Relief printing
External Link
Exhibition Information Posted: 03/07/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Looking North and South: European Prints and Drawings, 1500– 1650

The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA, United States. 03/05/2017 - 05/29/2017.
Many artists working in Europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries contributed to a fascinating and rich period of artistic exchange. Northern artists (predominantly those in the Netherlands and Germany) traveled increasingly to sites in southern Europe (Italy in particular) during this time, and responded in profound ways to Italian art and antique sculpture. The circulation of artistic ideas, practices, and traditions resulted in a dialogue of inspiration and innovation across the continent. This exhibition explores the character of artistic exchange between the north and south through the production of prints, drawings, and books from about 1500 to 1650. It considers how artists responded to the work of their contemporaries in different regions of early modern Europe, revealing intersections and divergences in artistic production and the important role played by works on paper—portable and more affordable than painting—in shaping the exchange of ideas.

The works in this exhibition, selected from the Clark’s permanent collection, demonstrate the breadth and depth of these artistic achievements. They allow for new considerations of artists’ approaches to drawing practices and education, depictions of the body and narrative subjects, and the dynamics of printmaking and artistic collaboration. Prints moved easily across large geographical distances, passing through the hands of artists and collectors and making ideas and artistic forms available to wide audiences. Drawings—from the highly finished to the loosely executed—offer insight into artists’ working processes and creativity. Together these works highlight the complexity of artistic exchange and encourage us to think in more connected ways about mobility and meaning when looking between north and south.
Relevant research areas: Western Europe, Renassiance, Baroque
External Link
Exhibition Information Posted: 03/07/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Prints in Paris 1900: From Elite to the Street

Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 03/03/2017 - 06/11/2017.
The exhibition 'Prints in Paris 1900: From Elite to the Street' takes you to the cosmopolitan French capital. Over 250 prints from our leading fin de siècle prints collection are being shown in their original context. Due to their fragility, these artworks are rarely displayed.

Modern artists decorated the entire French capital with their prints in the period 1890–1905. World-famous posters like "Le Chat Noir" and "Le Moulin Rouge" were displayed along the boulevards and in popular cafés. Some artists also created exclusive prints for the elite which could only be seen in private collections, fashionable theatres and exclusive galleries.

'Prints in Paris 1900' brings both of these worlds back to life, while presenting a richly nuanced picture of the exciting cultural life of Paris. Step into a richly decorated interior and view the prints like a connoisseur of the social elite. Experience the vibrant fin de siècle street life, in which popular posters, sheet music and magazine illustrations with their bright colours, large letters and powerful silhouettes, grab your attention.

The exhibition Prints in Paris 1900: From Elite to the Street is accompanied by a richly illustrated, large-format catalogue written by Fleur Roos Rosa de Carvalho, the museum’s Curator of Prints and Drawings. The publication is based on years of intensive research into the worlds of printmaking during the French fin de siècle. The book is available in Dutch, English, French and German and will be distributed worldwide. A separate print of Félix Vallotton’s 1896 woodcut Laziness (La paresse), 25 x 33 cm, is included as a special gift for readers. [192 pages, 38 x 25.3 cm, 185 illustration, € 45.00. Publisher: Mercatorfonds, Brussels]
Relevant research areas: Western Europe, 19th Century, 20th Century, Lithography
External Link
Exhibition Information Posted: 03/07/2017
Posted by: Association of Print Scholars

Gustave Baumann in California

Pasadena Museum of California Art, Pasadena, CA, United States. 03/05/2017 - 08/06/2017.
Exhibiting artist(s): Gustave Baumann.
Gustave Baumann (1881–1971) was a pioneer in the development of the color woodcut in the United States. Although he is best known for his bucolic scenes of the Midwest and his majestic imagery of the American Southwest, he made twelve powerful color woodcuts depicting the natural beauty of the Golden State. Inspired by seven automobile trips to California between 1927 and 1940 and his long drives up the scenic coast from San Diego to San Francisco, the works portray California’s coastline; its redwood, sequoia, and Torrey pine forests; and its Spanish-influenced architecture. The exhibition brings the California works together with a selection of Baumann’s formative color woodcuts of rural Brown County, Indiana—five from his Hills o’ Brown series and three of his largest color woodcuts. Baumann exhibited these Indiana woodcuts at the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) in San Francisco where he won a gold medal for printmaking. Gustave Baumann in California includes works by the two California printmakers most directly affected by the PPIE print exhibition, Frances Gearhart and William S. Rice. To illustrate Baumann’s printmaking process, the exhibition incorporates didactic materials, including a tempera study, a set of wood blocks, and a series of progressive proofs for his color woodcut, Singing Woods. There are also tempera studies of San Francisco before the bridges and of the then-quaint village of Laguna Beach.
Relevant research areas: North America, Western Europe, 20th Century, Relief printing
External Link