By Carleton Atwater
Andy Warhol’s prints, the conceptual art of Damien Hirst and classic cars from Ralph Lauren’s personal collection will grace the halls of the Museum of Fine Arts this spring.
The art of printmaking is celebrated by the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in a show titled “Sets, Series and Suites: Contemporary Prints.”
The exhibit features 60 print series from over 50 artists since 1960. The show includes works by many newcomers as well as several masters of 20th century art. Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Warhol all have series on display.
The exhibit also features the works of predecessors to the 1960s boom in printmaking. Notable artists from the early 20th century such as Wassily Kandinksy, El Lissitzky, Naum Gabo, Ralston Crawford and Josef Albers have works on display in this section.
Pieces for the exhibit were drawn from two private collections as well as the MFA’s own collection.
Printmaking first emer-ged in ancient Asia. The 1960s saw a rebirth in the art form as many young American and European artists turned their attention toward the medium. The works in the exhibit represent the wide variety printmaking has to offer. Pieces range from small, minimalist geometric lines of Fred Sandback’s “Untitled” to the raw and cluttered mess of Jim Dine’s “Car Crash,” a series created after the death of Dine’s close friend in an auto accident.
Printmaking can be done in a variety of methods, with each style possessing its own distinct characteristics. Silkscreening creates a sharp-edged single-color image. Etching prints are generally linear and often contain fine detail and contours. Drypoint produces characteristically soft and sometimes blurry lines. Woodcut is the oldest form, originating in China during the ninth century B.C.
The one aspect all these techniques share is the ablility to create multiple copies of the same print. This allows an artist to create a series of closely related prints in which “the whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts,” said Kena Frank, MFA curator.
The exhibit will run through May 30. Tickets are included with the price of general admission, $15 for adults and free for Northeastern students.
