Presswork: The Art of Women Printmakers

A house on an orange background shows several windows. In each window, a person is standing. On the window on the left, a man is holding two telephone receivers and has a sad look on his face. In the three windows on the right side, three identical, muscular women are posing.
Sep 24 to Dec 01, 1991

NMWA presents Presswork: The Art of Women Printmakers, featuring selections from the Lang Communications Corporate Collection of fine prints by contemporary American women artists. The exhibition is on view from September 24 through December 1, 1991, in the second-floor galleries. Publisher of Working Woman, Working Mother, and Sassy, Lang Communications has formed a sizeable collection of prints by women that demonstrates the diversity of artistic styles and printmaking processes characteristic of the past two decades.

Presswork: The Art of Women Printmakers offers a comprehensive look at the rich and varied accomplishments of contemporary women artists in the medium of printmaking. The exhibit includes such well-known figures as Helen Frankenthaler, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, Ida Applebroog, Louisa Chase, Elizabeth Murray, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Harmony Hammond, Nancy Graves, Barbara Kruger, as well as Washington-area artists such as Aline Feldman and Katja Oxman. Among the works selected for this exhibition are a number of new editions that have not been exhibited previously.

Since the 1960s the art world has witnessed a revived interest in printmaking in the United States. The booming art market of the past three decades has encouraged well-known painters and sculptors to produce more work, and this demand has largely been met in the form of multiples or editions. In recent decades artists also have begun to critique the expanding influence of the mass media in contemporary society. Printmaking, an art form traditionally associated with mass communication and commercial enterprise as well as fine art, is seen by many to be an ideal vehicle for such commentary.

What is perhaps the most significant aspect of the expansion of printmaking as an art form is the role women have played in creating, marketing, and exhibiting contemporary prints over the past three decades. Women have been in the vanguard of artists who have revolutionized the stylistic and technical aspects of printmaking. As “master printers” and print publishers, they have been instrumental in developing a network for the production and distribution of prints.

A large photomontage is hanging on a white wall. It's a photograph of a woman's face overlayed with the text "Savoir c'est pouvoir". There is wall text around the artwork, including the title of the exhibition, "Presswork: The Art of Women Printmakers".

Installation image of Presswork: The Art of Women Printmakers

The Artist,

Lynda Benglis

Lynda Benglis first garnered art-world attention for her poured latex sculptures, which stood in marked contrast to the hard-edged sculpture of male-dominated Minimalism.
A light-skinned adult woman with short, grey hair. She gazes directly into the camera with a frank expression, her eyebrows slightly raised. On the wall next to her hang three round sculptures of grey, black and white. They are masses of coils and resemble rounded brains.

The Artist,

Helen Frankenthaler

Helen Frankenthaler, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter, pioneered a stain technique that influenced Color Field painters like Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland.
A light-skinned older woman with short, wavy, red hair and brown eyes stands with her arms crossed. She leans against a white wall with part of a blue abstract painting behind her. She wears round silver-color earrings and a blue denim long-sleeve button-up shirt.

The Artist,

Joan Mitchell

An important member of Abstract Expressionism’s second generation, Joan Mitchell executed large, highly stylized abstractions of the landscape.
A black-and-white studio portrait of a light-skinned older woman with dark bobbed hair. She wears sunglasses, a light-colored turtleneck sweater, a striped scarf, and a watch. She stands with arms folded and holding a lit cigarette between her left index and middle fingers.

The Artist,

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith

Jaune Quick-to-See Smith creates work that addresses the myths of her ancestors in the context of current issues facing Native Americans.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with long dark hair, shown in full face from the chest up, standing in front of a light-colored wall. She wears large earrings and a black turtleneck top.

The Artist,

Claire Van Vliet

Her early exposure to nature heightened Claire Van Vliet’s interest in the outdoors and influenced her desire to celebrate the landscape in her book artwork.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned adult woman with close-cropped light colored, straight hair. She is smiling and wearing a dark colored turtleneck shirt. She is shown from the neck up against a black background.

The Artist,

Harmony Hammond

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Harmony Hammond became well-known for her fabric-wrapped sculptures that expand conventional ideas about women’s handwork.
A black-and-white photograph of a light-skinned, smiling adult woman in profile wearing a black Western-style hat and tank top, her white hair pulled to the side. She stands in a field of sparse grass. Behind her are two people, a rack of clothing, furniture, and distant trees.

The Artist,

Hollis Sigler

Hollis Sigler created psychologically complex paintings, drawings, and prints grounded in personal experience.
A black-and-white photograph of a smiling adult light-skinned woman with dark, bobbed hair. She wears a dark high-neck garment with a large heart-shaped brooch at the neck, drop earrings, and dark eyeshadow. Behind her is a painting with two figures and a spiral staircase.

The Artist,

Miriam Schapiro

Miriam Schapiro challenged the dichotomy of “high” art, denoting the works of known, predominantly male artists, and “decorative” art, a term then used to relegate women to anonymity.
Black and white photo of a woman shot from the waist up. She rests her chin in her right hand, her right elbow propped on a table next to bottles of paint. She smiles with her whole face and her grey hair is brushed back. She wears a light blouse and large cocktail ring.