"The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland has organized an exhibition of prints by David C. Driskell, scheduled to open in October 2007 at its new facility in the heart of the College Park campus and planned to travel to several other venues." --book jacket
This catalog is published on the occasion of the special exhibition Proof Positive: Forty Years of American Printmaking at ULAE, 1957-1997, organized by The Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) and Universal Limited Art Editions (West Islip, N.Y.).
An engaging look at early twentieth-century American printmaking, which frequently focused on the crowded, chaotic, and gritty modern city. In the first half of the twentieth century, a group of American artists influenced by the painter and teacher Robert Henri aimed to reject the pretenses of academic fine art and polite society. Embracing the democratic inclusiveness of the Progressive movement, these artists turned to making prints, which were relatively inexpensive to produce and easy to distribute. For their subject matter, the artists mined the bustling activity and stark realities of the urban centers in which they lived and worked. Their prints feature sublime towering skyscrapers and stifling city streets, jazzy dance halls and bleak tenement interiors—intimate and anonymous everyday scenes that addressed modern life in America. True Grit examines a rich selection of prints by well-known figures like George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Joseph Pennell, and John Sloan as well as lesser-known artists such as Ida Abelman, Peggy Bacon, Miguel Covarrubias, and Mabel Dwight. Written by three scholars of printmaking and American art, the essays present nuanced discussions of gender, class, literature, and politics, contextualizing the prints in the rapidly changing milieu of the first decades of twentieth-century America.
A solid introduction to the history of American prints, and a celebration of the unprecedented range of the National Gallery’s collection Nearly 200 American prints, representing more than 100 artists, and dating from the colonial era to the present day, are brought together in this unprecedented volume from the National Gallery of Art to commemorate its collection and recent acquisitions. The artists featured range from Paul Revere through James McNeil Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Winslow Homer, Louise Nevelson, Romare Bearden, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Chuck Close, and Kara Walker. The works date from essentially every period in American history, so major art and historical themes running through the collection are readily visible. Lending context, twelve contributing authors discuss the varied themes in American art. Biographies of the artists and a glossary of printmaking terms are also featured. Since its founding in 1941, the National Gallery of Art has assiduously collected American prints with the help of many generous donors. The Gallery’s American print collection has grown from nearly 1,900 prints in 1950 to more than 22,500 prints today. The collection was recently transformed by the acquisition of an extraordinary group of 5,200 American prints brought together by Reba and Dave Williams.