Pulled, Pressed and Screened: Important American Prints

From the 1930s to the 1980s the printed image in American art went through profound changes. Beginning with the black and white lithographs that were popularized by the regionalists and urban realists, and continuing through the experimental intaglio prints of the 1940s and 1950s, the ‘Pop’ explosion of screenprints in the 1960s, and the precision of super realism in the 1970s, printmaking has captured the imagination of countless American artists.

This exhibition of 51 American prints surveyed the activities of artists who put designs on paper during this exciting period. Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, Anne Ryan, Milton Avery, Dorothy Dehner, Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Richard Estes were a few of the artists represented in this examination of the growth in popularity of printmaking among American artists during this 50 year period. Especially significant are the contributions of women to printmaking during this period as well as the impact of African-American artists on the graphic arts. Combined with artists who immigrated to the United States during these decades and the increased numbers of painters and sculptors who took up the medium, this exhibition makes the egalitarian nature of the print abundantly clear.