Scratch it, ink it, print it

How printmaking opened the doors for artistic experimentation in 60s Britain
By Undine Markus | Art | 22 November 2017
Above:

Allen Jones, Florida Suite – Garden (B), 1968

Top image: Allen Jones, Florida Suite – Garden B (1968)

Next week, London’s Marlborough Fine Art will launch
Two Decades: British Printmaking in the 1960s and 1970s, an exhibition that traces the history of British printmaking.

The gallery, famous for its expansive contemporary British print collection, is opening its archives to the public to celebrate the zeitgeist of printmaking. The showcase is set to span two decades, exploring its roots in painting and impact on pop art.

GALLERY

Bringing together key artists, the likes of Barbara Hepworth, Allen Jones, R.B. Kitaj, Henry Moore, Victor Pasmore, John Piper, Graham Sutherland and Joe Tilson, the exhibition draws technical parallels across lithography, etching, and screen printing.

With the form and presentation core to Marlborough’s curation, the exhibition explores printmaking as a medium which served as a stepping stone for many major artists, enabling their work to reach the masses thanks to its accessible form, while also tracing the practice’s role as an invitation for experimentation, which aided and shaped the further artistic output of its practitioners.

R.B. Kitaj, The Red Dancer of Moscow (1975)

The selection of works references the early days of printmaking, the post-war era, and how the second generation of printmakers pushed the conceptual boundaries of the medium, including John Piper’s pioneering technique that combines lithographic drawings with collage and ink wash.

The curatorial choices also span Joe Tilson’s unique pairings of screen printing, painting, drawing, and found objects, and include rare prints by architect-turned-artist Victor Pasmore and British sculptor Barbara Hepworth, a body of work that combines the rigid formal structures of her sculpture with complex textures and colour.

Victor Pasmore, Linear Motif 7 (1976)

Two Decades: British Printmaking in the 1960s and 1970s runs at Marlborough Fine Art from 29th November 2017 until 6th January 2018.

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