Founded by Allan Edmunds in Philadelphia in 1972, the Brandywine Workshop and Archives provides a fertile environment for artists from diverse backgrounds to create cutting-edge prints. At Brandywine, collaboration and the exchange of ideas feed a culture of experimentation, in which master printers and artists continually challenge conventions of the creative process and push the technical boundaries of printmaking to produce compelling new works.

This exhibition marks the first presentation of a group of works acquired by the Harvard Art Museums from the Brandywine Workshop in 2018. Comprising prints and proofs by nearly 30 artists, the acquisition itself was a cooperative effort between curators and other museum colleagues as well as Harvard students and professors, who selected works that highlight collaboration and innovation, values at the core of Brandywine’s pioneering approach. The collection spans the history of the workshop, from the early 1970s to today, and includes works by artists who had not yet found representation in the marketplace or museum collections when they arrived at Brandywine—a key constituency of the organization, which seeks to create opportunities for such artists. The exhibition honors that mission by incorporating the perspectives of Brandywine artists, students, and members of the greater Boston community in interpretive materials and associated programming.

Artists in the exhibition: Pedro Abascal, Danny Alvarez, John Biggers, Andrea Chung, Louis Delsarte, Allan Edmunds, Rodney Ewing, Sam Gilliam, Simon Gouverneur, Sedrick Huckaby, Hughie Lee-Smith, Ibrahim Miranda, Tanya Murphy, Kenneth Noland, Odili Donald Odita, Janet Taylor Pickett, Howardena Pindell, Robert Pruitt, Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Eduardo Roca Salazar, Juan Sanchez, Clarissa Sligh, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Hank Willis Thomas, Larry Walker, Stanley Whitney, Deborah Willis, and Murray Zimiles

Prints from the Brandywine Workshop and Archives: Creative Communities and its associated programming were developed by colleagues in the museums’ Division of Modern and Contemporary Art: Hannah Chew, Summer 2021 SHARP Research Fellow and 2021–22 Student Assistant; Jessica Ficken, Cunningham Curatorial Assistant for the Collection; Sarah Kianovsky, Curator of the Collection; and Joelle Te Paske, Curatorial Graduate Student Intern; together with colleagues in the Division of European and American Art: Elizabeth M. Rudy, Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Curator of Prints; and Natalia Ángeles Vieyra, Maher Curatorial Fellow of American Art.