May 20, 1960
The largest National Print Exhibition in the honored series at the Brooklyn Museum will be circulated throughout the United States by the American Federation of Arts. From 2,200 entries, representing well-known and new artists from 44 states, 173 outstanding prints were selected by the three man jury.
Out of the great diversity of style and statements the jury selected 8 Purchase Awards. They include the impressive woodcut ANGEL OF DEATH by the renowned Leonard Baskin. Mr. Baskin, of Northhampton, Massachusetts, is a former Brooklyn artist, currently a professor of art at Smith College. This well-known sculptor and printmaker who works in woodcuts and wood engravings feels that art must carry a special message of social significance in his own time. The second prize winner with a woodcut is Mike Christiana with his rhythmic SUMMER LANDSCAPE. A newcomer to the Brooklyn Museum Print National, Mr. Christiana, of Hartford, Connecticut, has received a number of awards during the past year.
The artist, writer and teacher, and winner of the largest cash award ever given a printmaker, Gabor Peterdi, from Rowayton, Conn., is another award winner of the 12th National Print Exhibition with the etching, aquatint, VERTICAL ROCKS. This nationally known artist had a retrospective exhibition of his prints at the Brooklyn Museum in October of last year. He has written an outstanding textbook on printmaking which was recently published by Macmillan. Among his many other distinctions in the art field is his development of the Graphic Art Studios at Yale University.
A young artist who received his training at Yale while working with Peterdi, Al Blaustein of New York City, received his Purchase Award for the macabre etching THE RECLUSE. This exceptional draftsman has received a number of fellowships including one from the American Academy in Rome.
BLACK AND WHITE, the bold statement in stencil, won a Purchase Award for Brooklyn artist John von Wicht. Painter, as well as a printmaker, von Wicht is well represented with his lithographs in the Museum’s collection. This summer the German-born, U.S. citizen, is exhibiting paintings in SpaIn.
Using the cellocut technique, Boris Margo is represented in the Awards with the cool, expansive FROM PLANT LIFE. Painter, sculptor and printmaker, Margo is the pioneer in making prints from plastic material known as cellocut. Born in Russia, this American citizen has exhibited and lectured in museums and galleries throughout the U.S.
The lithograph in color, VIEW, won an Award for the skilled lithographer, Garo Z. Antr[e]asian of Indianapolis. A teacher at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, Antr[e]asian is one of the most experimental lithographers now working in the United States. His prints are represented in American and European collection[s].
Another lithograph, LOW TIDE, by Max Kahn, of Chicago, is in the winner’s circle. Mr. Kahn, a noted printmaker, is a beloved teacher of art, who spent a year in Mexico at the Graphic Arts Studio in the ‘40s and has, for many years, been a teacher at the Art Institute Art School in Chicago.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1953 - 1970. 1960, 039-40. View Original
April 14, 1960
The jury for the Brooklyn Museum Eleventh National Print Exhibition to be shown from April 15 to June 29 has just completed its selections from among some 1,200 prints submitted from 36 States. The exhibition will be circulated all over the country by the American Federation of Arts following its showing here. The jurors also selected 8 purchase awards which will be announced for release on opening day, April 15. The jury was composed of: Mrs. Herbert M. Rothschild, New York Collector; Mr. Will Barnet, artist and teacher at the Art Students League and Cooper Union, and Miss Una E. Johnson, Curator of Prints and Drawings for the Brooklyn Museum.
An illustrated catalogue of the exhibition is being prepared by Miss Johnson, who is organizing the exhibtion.
The press preview will be on April 14.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1953 - 1970. 1960, 061. View Original
January 26, 1960
Miss Una E. Johnson, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Brooklyn Museum, announces that entries for the 12th National Print Exhibition are now being accepted. All entry cards must be received by February 11th and all prints submitted for this juried show before February 18th. Any artist working in the United States may enter graphic work and is entitled to submit one or two prints providing they have been executed within the past two years.
The handling fee for entering either one or two prints is $2.00, which should be sent with the entry blank. For any additional information, artists should request entry blanks from the Brooklyn Museum, where this 12th National Print Exhibition will be shown from May 10 through July 27.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1953 - 1970. 1960, 007. View Original
May 2, 1960
173 outstanding prints have been selected from more than 2,200 entries for the 12th NATIONAL PRINT EXHIBITION which will be seen at the Brooklyn Museum for eleven weeks, beginning May 10th.
Hailed as one of the most important print exhibitions in the country, the Brooklyn National has been a major influence in establishing today’s great public interest in prints. When the National began more than a decade ago there were only two major print exhibitions in the United States. Today, in museums and universities throughout the country, there are 550 showings of contemporary prints.
Commenting on the Exhibition, Una Johnson, Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Brooklyn Museum, said, “This is not only the largest show of the series, it contains more exciting ideas than ever before. There is a more knowing and skillful use of the techniques of printmaking, and variations of techniques. And there is indeed a great deal of excit[e]ment in the statements made by the artists.”
The 12th National Print Exhibition presents a nation-wide representation of artists. Most of the selected works are from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts and New York. Miss Johnson observed that “it is possible that those States are so well represented because the important modern graphic workshops have been established in them.”
In discussing today[']s printmaking, Miss Johnson said that what used to be considered a craft is now recognized as an art. “Printmakers are no longer considered to be just graphic artists. As a matter of fact, most of them are painters and sculptors as well as printmakers. And most of them do the entire job themselves. Because they make their own plates and do their own printing, each piece is unique, it has the imprint of the artist’s temperament as well as his vital statement.”
The artists' awareness of the public demand for fine art at reasonable prices is evident throughout this sales-exhibition which includes prints ranging from $20 to $300, with the majority in the $50 to $85 bracket.
There are many well-known artists as well as newcomers in this Exhibition which, following the showing at the Brooklyn Museum, will be circulated throughout the United States by the American Federation of Arts. Among the more familiar names represented by large and impressive pieces are Leonard Baskin with ANGEL OF DEATH and EVERYMAN, Mauricio Lasansky with SELF PORTRAIT and MY DAUGHTER MARIE JIMENA, and Gabor Peterdi with BURNING ROCKS and VERTICAL ROCKS. There are two Edmond Casarella cardboard relief prints in color, SWAMP BANK and ROCK LEDGE. Karl Schrag, Carol Summers, Misch Kohn and John Von Wicht are some of the other internationally known artists with major works in the Exhibition.
Newcomers of special importance because of their completely professional skills and points of view are Mike Christiana, of Hartford, Connecticut, represented by two very large black and white woodcuts SUMMER LANDSCAPE and MATADOR. From Los Angeles there are two woodcuts in color, WIND AND BUTTERFLY and PAUSE - ALLEGRO by Ansei Uchima. John Ekstrom of Urbana, Illinois is represented by his etching, THE DISTANCE OF TIME and Eddie Brooks of Brooklyn with a color etchIng THE ARK. Important lithographs include GREY CITY by Sheila Isham of Washington, D.C. and WORLD WITHOUT END, in color, by Robert Bechtle of Alameda, California. The serigraph, WHITE by Angelo Savelli of New York City, and the engraving, LANDSCAPE WITH SEVEN TREES by Philip Meany of Ashland, Ohio were also singled out for their importance.
There is an illustrated catalog with a forward by Una Johnson for this extensive contemporary Exhibition which may be seen in the 2nd floor Print Gallery through July 27.
PRESS MAY VIEW THE SHOW AT ANYTIME ON MONDAY, May 9th.
Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1953 - 1970. 1960, 033-35. View Original
