In the 1960s, the renaissance of American printmaking (and of collaborative printmaking in particular) encouraged many artists who worked primarily as painters to explore print media. Lithography, for example, was discovered to be an ideal medium for expressing the abstract, gestural work that appeared in the paintings of Motherwell, Gottlieb, and Willem de Kooning.

Many painters and draftsmen who began seriously to explore printmaking expanded traditional ideas of what is considered to be a print. Frequently these artists both affirmed traditional printmaking methods by emphasizing surface and texture, while simultaneously importing techniques from other media such as photography and using innovative tools.

On view in both DAC gallery spaces were prints by artists including Louise Bourgeois, Chuck Close, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Richard Bosman, Louisa Chase, Yvonne Jacquette, and David Salle. Many of the works on display were printed by the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, Gemini G.E.L., and Universal Limited Art Editions, as well as other print workshops.

Tuesday 23 March - Sunday 30 May 1999

Roberta Waddell, Curator of Prints at The New York Public Library, gave an Art à la mode gallery talk on 31 March 1999.