Jim Dine Prints: 1985 - 2002

The painter, sculptor, and master printmaker Jim Dine is best known for familiar and personal images that have, in essence, become his trademarks. Hearts, bathrobes, and tools are all associated with him. Since the 1970s he has frequently diverted the reproductive role of the print to experiment, rework plates, add color, and scrape away areas, making the prints unique. He considers printmaking more liberating than other media because he says he can be more cavalier with it, leaving the complex printing process to the printer. Most of Dine's prints engage with "layers" of himself, although their meanings are usually ambiguous and left to the viewer's imagination. This survey of his prints since 1985 reveals these later works as large, confrontational, and armed with tense expressionism. In that pivotal year of 1985 Dine underwent an intense period of Jungian psychoanalysis. Those unleashed emotions and images resulted in cathartic prints. Historical and spiritual motifs also abound. He has continued to re-use semi-autobiographical motifs such as the robe and heart, and has introduced new themes such as Pinocchio, the raven, crow, trees, and the Untersberg, a mountain in Austria.

This exhibition was organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in collaboration with Pace Prints and Jim Dine. The exhibition was generously supported at Vassar College by the Smart Family Foundation, Inc. There are works that appeared in this exhibition that were loans to the Loeb and therefore do not appear on this website.