Presses, Pop, and Pomade: American Prints Since the Sixties

In the 1940s and 1950s, some of the most influential Abstract Expressionist painters in New York also ventured into printmaking, the often complicated and time-consuming medium not easily given over to the immediacy that these painters cherished. Before long the improvisational, personal styles fostered by these artists, among them Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, inspired peers across the country to make their own exploratory paintings and prints. Additionally, with the rise in the 1950s of competitive print exhibitions and printmaking study in colleges, prints steadily became more numerous and visible in the U.S. to collectors, art editors, gallery directors, and the general public.

American printmaking accelerated dramatically in the 1960s, overrunning introspective abstractions and largely replacing them with imagery inspired by a commercially-driven culture: from newspapers and magazines, to advertising, Hollywood stars, and everyday objects. Interestingly, a new abstractionist movement also began to emerge, exemplified by the paintings and sculpture of Frank Stella; through their minimalist geometric abstractions, devoid of overt emotions or personal feelings, these artists sought to express the "objectness" of their works. Painters and printmakers responded vigorously to the vibrant atmosphere of this period, and placed a heightened emphasis on the print, encouraged by a plethora of new art presses and publishers.

This exhibition of thirty-six works, presented by the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center from its permanent collection, tapped into this printmaking explosion and examined the medium's continuing importance to new artistic movements, including realism in the 1970s, expressionism in the 1980s, and identity politics in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was presented, with the generous support of The Smart Family Foundation, Inc.