Hofstra University Museum of Art: Portfolios II: Offset Lithographic Prints

HOFSTR A UNIVERSIT Y MUSEUM

Olga Moore (American, 1937-2013), Thahlahsah, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981, offset lithograph on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull cover paper, edition 55/100, 21 5/8 x 16 5/8 in., Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.11.A

Portfolios II: Offset Lithographic Prints

March 27-July 27, 2018 | David Filderman Gallery

Portfolios II: Offset Lithographic Prints The portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints contains 16 offset lithographs created by nine artists from 1978 to 1981.

These painters, sculptors, and printmakers were asked to explore the artistic and creative potential of the offset lithographic printing process, which is explained in greater detail in Professor Warren Infield’s included statement. It was initiated in 1975 when the Ford Foundation awarded a grant to the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to utilize the offset lithography printing facility of the Graphic Arts and Design Department.

A portfolio is defined as a set of works of art presented together. This exhibition, the second in a series that highlights portfolios of prints and photographs from the Hofstra University Museum’s permanent collections, provides a rare opportunity to view a portfolio in its entirety. When a portfolio is created, the images are carefully selected with the intention that they will be viewed together and connections will be made among the individual works. Portfolios can be composed of works by a single artist or, as in this case, works by several artists. The medium, the dimensions, and the number of works in each portfolio vary.

Artists have long taken advantage of technological and scientific advances, such as color theory and prepared tube paints, to create new works of art. The influence of technology is particularly evident in the field of printmaking, where mechanized and photographic processes have been added to traditional printmaking methods. During the second half of the 20th century, many visual artists rebelled against established art world norms and showed a renewed interest in representational art and the use of unconventional materials and methods, and a fresh interest in printmaking, especially screenprinting and photomechanical reproduction.

In the 1960s and 1970s, artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol created prints using screenprinting, which at the time was considered a commercial process and was not used for fine arts.

Collaborations between artists and print workshops led to innovations such as the combining of different printmaking techniques and other artistic practices.

Offset lithography was developed in the early 20th century and, since the 1950s, has become the standard for commercial or mass production printing. In this printing method, the images are transferred, or offset, from the original stone or plate to a rubber roller or blanket, and then to the print media, usually paper. The viability of the original stones or plates is prolonged since they do not come in contact with the paper. Other advantages of offset printing include a high and consistent image quality; the correct image orientation, since it has been reversed twice; and the efficiency of large-quantity printing. The artists in this exhibition used a variety of techniques to produce their work, from hand-drawn Mylar separation overlays to photomechanical four-color separations.

The ability to create high-resolution scans and to digitally manipulate images have changed the standard methods of printing, both for commercial and artistic purposes. Just as the artists featured in this portfolio experimented with a commercial method, artists continue to innovate utilizing all types of digital media, including the recent addition of 3-D printing, to create new works of art. As technology and digitization become more prevalent in everyday life, it is exciting to imagine what collaborations between engineers and artists might create in the future.

KAREN T. ALBERT

Deputy Director and Chief Curator Hofstra University Museum

TYLER OFFSET WORKSHOP

A Ford Foundation grant obtained when I chaired the Graphic Arts and Design Department at the Tyler School of Art of Temple University in 1975 made this print folio possible.

At that time, we had obtained a new building for the art school and acquired a four-color Heidelberg offset printing press to enhance the capabilities of the design area in conjunction with our typography studio. Offset lithography had come into its own as the preferred printing medium for high-quality reproduction, and we felt it would be an exciting creative experience for our design students. You should note that at that time the printing trade was structured like a medieval guild – requiring an apprenticeship of several years to become a master printer. Our staff quickly realized our limitations. The Ford Foundation grant enabled us to hire a master printer with an art background and proposed an exploration of the creative potential in this medium.

Over the five-year term of the grant, in consultation with my faculty, we commissioned 17 artists to create a signed limited edition of their work utilizing the photo-lithographic process.

The participants were a mix of our faculty and outside artists at various stages of their careers. In addition, we produced a companion folio, also in a signed limited edition of original posters, publicizing the workshop with a parallel mix of faculty and outside designers at various stages of their career.

The artist participants were Chuck Close, John E. Dowell Jr., Stephen Greene, James McGarrel, John Moore, Olga Moore, Italo Scanga, Salvatore Scarpitta, and Miriam Schapiro. The designer participants were Seymour Chwast, John O’Leary, Joseph Scorsone, Lanny Sommese, Franciszek Starowieyski, George Tscherny, Stanislaw Zagorski, and I.* In 1975 established print workshops around the country worked with prominent artists who had been established since 1957, had contributed to the rejuvenation of printmaking in this country, and had produced some important works.

Among them, Tatyana Grosman’s Universal Limited Art Editions, established in 1957 in Islip, New York, is credited with being a significant factor in jump-starting this lithography printmaking renaissance. Her East Coast venture became the model for the establishment of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop founded in Los Angeles in 1960, which in a relatively short time produced master printers who also created printmaking workshops. Generally, these workshops – while committed to contemporary art and artists – used traditional processes, such as etching, silkscreen, and stone lithography. The printmaking community was energized, but a significant segment was committed to traditional procedures and was concerned that “commercial” processes would reduce the value and uniqueness of the art since typically, the plates were created photographically using film, halftone screens and color separations, and a copy camera.

Interestingly, a significant number of artists and designers participating in this project prepared their artwork utilizing hand-drawn separations and Pantone colors, sometimes with many plates to achieve the final resolution of their artwork.

Subsequent developments in the art world and the advent of digital technology have altered this perception and opened new avenues for creation, including offset lithography, among the acceptable tools for making art.

It is clear that while this workshop was a serious attempt to enable artists to create and evaluate offset lithography as a process for creating limited edition prints, it was a small part of an established trend in the art world. Since I had considerable experience in designing art books and exhibition catalogs, I was familiar with the high-quality results that were possible with offset printing. Therefore, some expected results from this workshop did produce highquality and varied art and encouraged experimentation and the discovery of this process by participating artists. Some of the artists had made prints before, but none had utilized the offset process. A number of the artists participating were already prominent: Chuck Close, Stephen Greene, and Miriam Schapiro among the artists, and Seymour Chwast, George Tscherny, Stanislaw Zagorski, and Franciszek Starowieyski among the designers. Others were mid-career, and subsequently Italo Scanga, John Moore, and Salvatore Scarpitta achieved some prominence in the art world. Joseph Scorsone, Lanny Sommese, and I have had successful careers as designers and educators.

The workshop provided the art school with an in-house printing capability for exhibition posters, catalogs, and announcements; students were provided with first-hand knowledge of the process and the ability to see their work for print in its final form. The designers benefited directly.

The printmaking faculty, with one exception, was simply not interested in this medium and preferred traditional techniques, all of which were available in the art school.

Not surprisingly, the photographers took full advantage of the facility. One member of the photography faculty learned the printing craft from the master printer, and together they produced photo books and other photographic projects with students and others photographers. This facility became an important and permanent feature of the art school during the time I was there. The project was completed in 1981. I left the Tyler School of Art to come to Hofstra University in 1983.

WARREN INFIELD

Chair and Professor Department of Fine Arts, Design, Art History Hofstra University * Curator’s Note: Only the Offset Lithographic Prints portfolio is on view.

PORTFOLIOS II: OFFSET LITHOGRAPHIC PRINTS EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

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JOHN E. DOWELL JR.

1

(American, born 1941)

1 Cirque, 1981, from the portfolio

Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Rives Offset 100 lb. paper, edition 55/100 22 1/ 16 x 17 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.6 2

4

CHUCK CLOSE

Robert/Fingerprint, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, edition 55/100 21 3/8 x 16 3/4 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.3

(American, born 1940) Self-Portrait, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, edition 55/100 8 15/16 x 6 5/16 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.1 Fanny, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, edition 55/100 10 x 7 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.2

Robert/Square Fingerprint, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, edition 55/100 21 7/16 x 16 13/16 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.4 Robert/Square Fingerprint II, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, edition 67/100, 11 x 8 1/2 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.5

STEPHEN GREENE (American, 1918-1999)

2 Untitled, undated, from the portfolio

Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Arches Watercolor 140 lb. rough paper, edition 61/100 13 3/4 x 17 1/2 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.7

JAMES MCGARRELL (American, born 1930)

3 Explanations for Andrew/Explanations

for Flora, undated, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Rives Offset 100 lb. paper, edition 61/100 22 3/16 x 34 1/2 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.8

JOHN MOORE

(American, born 1941) Four Glasses, 1979, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Rives Offset 100 lb. paper, edition 56/100 8 1/ 16 x 9 1/4 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.9 4 Five Tulips, 1979, from the portfolio

Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Rives Offset 100 lb. paper, edition 55/100 8 9/16 x 8 1/16 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.10

OLGA MOORE

(American, 1937-2013) Thahlahsah, 1980, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull cover paper, edition 55/100 21 5/8 x 16 5/8 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.11.A Nehroh, 1981, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull cover paper, edition 55/100 21 5/8 x 16 5/8 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.11.B Kohzmos, 1981, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull cover paper, edition 55/100 21 5/8 x 16 5/8 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.11.C

5

6

ITALO SCANGA

SALVATORE SCARPITTA

5 Remorse, 1978, from the portfolio

6 Incident at Rimini, 1980, from the

Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull coated paper, edition 28/100 19 1/4 x 15 3/8 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.12.A

portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Mohawk Superfine 80 lb. ivory cover paper, edition 55/100 22 1/16 x 17 1/16 in. each page, total width 238 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.13

(American, 1932-2001)

ITALO SCANGA Images/reflections/ photographs, 1979, from the portfolio Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Duotone photographs on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull text paper, foil stamped cover on Curtis Tweedweave Matte Black 80 lb. cover paper, edition 27/100 10 x 7 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.12.B

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(American, 1919-2007)

MIRIAM SCHAPIRO (American, 1923-2015)

7 The Fan, 1979, from the portfolio

Offset Lithographic Prints, 1981 Offset lithograph on Warren’s Cameo 80 lb. dull cover paper, edition 55/100 11 x 22 in.

Hofstra University Museum Collections, gift of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, HU83.48.14

Funding has been provided by Sterling National Bank and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.