Art of the Print

An exhibition of prints from the permanent collection

February 15, 2005 – May 15, 2005

ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
The tenor of the printed image is reflected in Art of the Print.  Organized in honor of the Southern Graphics Council’s 2005 International Conference being held in Washington this year, the exhibit is an encapsulated survey of the museum’s print collection which ranges in time from the work of Mexican Jose Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913) to contemporary printmakers.  The selection brings together the work of artists who have dedicated the greater part of their careers to printmaking as well as artists best known as painters or sculptors who, at different points in their careers, have been drawn to printmaking’s versatility and sensibility. Some of the artists in the exhibit are recognized for their innovative contributions to the printmaking field specifically, while others for key roles they played in shaping the artistic profile of their countries. The decades of the 1960s and 1970s was a period marked by particular vitality in Latin American graphics, both in the use of line to deconstruct forms and experimentation with the medium itself. The flourishing of printmaking was encouraged by numerous Latin American graphic arts competitions, such as the Latin American Graphics Biennial of San Juan in Puerto Rico, and by the writings of critics such as Marta Traba who was instrumental in recognizing and defining the graphics surge. Traba saw it as a unique response to the socio-cultural context of Latin America: it was affordable, accessible and had an intimacy and communicative power that restored the value of meaning and authenticity in art, a return to a human dimension.