Author: Alan Powers

Publisher: Tate Publishing(UK)

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 182

ISBN-13:

The Curwen Press, set up by the Reverend John Curwen in 1863, was initially concerned with printing sheet music. Curwen's grandson Harold led a design revolution in typography and illustration in the 1920s when the Press commissioned work from artists including Edward Bawden, Claud Lovat Fraser, Paul Nash and Eric Ravilious, contributing to their lasting reputation. Advertising jobs and limited edition books received the same perfectionist attention and Curwen's colleague, Oliver Simon, continued the tradition of talent spotting, giving early opportunities to John Piper and Graham Sutherland. From the 1930s, the Curwen Press encouraged artists to work directly on lithographic stones and plates, helping to generate a revival of interest in the potential of lithography for mass production of original work. In the 1950s, the market for limited edition lithographic prints was developing in France and America, and the Curwen Studio was set up in 1958 to provide a sympathetic professional environment for experiment in printmaking. The artist printer from the beginning was Stanley Jones, who remains involved with the Studio as it celebrates its fiftieth anniverary.