Some Thoughts about Printmaking and Print Collaborations

Abstract

Approximately two decades have passed since collaboration became a household word in printmaking. During that period we have been alternately beguiled, bewildered, and finally benumbed by an extraordinary avalanche of printed art embracing every conceivable outlook and, depending on one's point of view, brightening or befouling every corner of the land. We are witness to prints by sports and film personalities of our time, by comic strip artists and by naïfs, by talented and by tasteless illustrators, by decorators and by some unabashed romanticizers of an America that never was. In addition to such popular and topical trivia peddled under the name of “original prints,” we have also been astounded by some of the finest achievements in the history of American printmaking made by many of the leading artists of our time. Perhaps the only elements shared by these vastly differing outpourings are the uncommonly high quality of printing and the fact that the majority of these works were executed in professional workshops through the collaborative efforts of artists working closely with printers. The professional assurance and technical bravura of these endeavors far exceed printmaking achievements in this country during the first half of the century and, of course, printmaking is far different in scope and intention now than in earlier periods.