Prints — collectable, accessible and expressive — are of perennial interest. This media has transcended all styles or schools of art and is, perhaps, its most democratized form. The best artists have always made prints.  A fine print is not a reproduction, instead, it is the artist's personal work, made for that purpose and usually only existing in that form. Rembrandt to Rosenquist: The Masters of Printmaking offers prints that embody some aspect of innovation. It also explores the impact of notable artists on the print media as they contributed to the process of discovery.

 

Rembrandt to Rosenquist: The Masters of Printmaking is a major two-part exhibition that will fill the museum first floor and second floor galleries. It is organized by Franklin Hill Perrell, the museum's Chief Curator. One section, Old Masters through Moderns, features the first great pioneers of European printmaking — Rembrandt, Dürer and Goya. This part of the exhibition continues through European Impressionists and Post Impressionist, such as Renoir, Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Vuillard and Redon-who variously introduced lithography and color-as well as by Matisse, Picasso, Miró and Chagall — all of whom heightened color and experimented with new techniques.

 

Post war prints examine the developments of printmaking by American artists, beginning with Motherwell, De Kooning and Gottlieb, and proceeding to the explosion of printmaking in the Pop era with Warhol, Lichtenstein, Rauchenberg, Johns and Rosenquist. All of these artists used the print media to broaden their signature styles and, in turn, were influenced by the experience of working within the demands of printmaking.