Fine Art Print
Collections
West Valley Art
Museum's 19th and 20th Century fine art
collection contains over 850 paintings,
drawings and prints. The print
collection contains prints by such
American artists as Andy Warhol, Peter
Max, Fritz Scholder, Alexander Calder
and T.C. Cannon. Chinese and Japanese
prints enhance the presentation of
cultures represented in the Ethnic Dress
Collection. The total collection of
prints totals over 300.
When the term “Fine Prints” appears,
there may be some confusion as to what
is meant by saying that the Museum
collects them. An explanation is in
order since in this age of mass
reproduction and “giclee”, many are
confused about what constitutes a “Fine
Print”
In the main, and generally agreed on by
most people in the business of art, a
“fine print” has participation by the
artist, either doing the preparation of
the plates/blocks and the printing
himself/herself, or working with a
master printer. The differences in
opinion come from the degree of
participation necessary to qualify as a
“fine print”. Some are willing to let
the participation be minimal and the
artist doing little more than signing
and numbering the prints. A number of
artists have allowed their plates to be
inherited and printed by their progeny.
Posthumous prints, as in the case of the
series of etchings by Goya, were first
printed in an edition by his son 35
years after his death, and later for six
more editions by various publishers!
This curator draws the line at the first
edition, and preferably while the artist
is still alive to judge the quality of
the printing. The definition here, then,
is one of active participation in the
plate preparation and printing by the
artist. A “Fine Print” starts out to be
just that. It is not the reproduction of
an image originally produced in oil or
watercolor, such as a giclee, which is
little more than a computer ink jet
print. All of the works the Museum
collects in this fine prints category
fall into this definition.
Fritz Scholder, Claire Falkenstein, Andy
Warhol and Alexander Calder all worked
with master printers to create their
prints. Others, such as E.B. Rothwell,
Marie Macpherson, and Marion Greenwood
did their own printing.
Most often, artists doing Lithography,
engage a master printer partly because
of the equipment necessary and if it is
stone lithography, the weight of the
stones for large prints is daunting. All
methods, however, have utilized
printers. Many of these printers have
their own “blind” stamp on the prints.
It is merely a raised stamp in the paper
much like a Braille letter or logo.
Lithography works on the principle of
oil and water not mixing, with a greasy
medium used to do the original on the
stone or plate. Etching involves
printing from a metal plate that has
been etched or engraved by the action of
acid and the printing done from the ink
being held in the grooves. Woodcut and
linocut (linoleum blocks) plates are
printed from the raised portions of the
block. Serigraphs or silk screens are
done with an actual screen on a hinged
frame with a stencil blocking out the
parts not to be printed. Stencils can be
cut from paper or film or be painted in
with a blockout liquid. In a Monoprint
or Monotype there is only one image
printed. The ink is applied to a smooth
surfaced plate and either wiped away
(subtractive) or painted on (additive).
The difference between the two is that
the monoprint has elements that are
repeatable and could be called
variations on a theme. The method is not
new. Etchers as early as the 17th
century such as Rembrandt would wipe
etched plates differently to obtain
unique images. Monotype images are
unique although “cognate” or second
pulls are sometimes done with the second
printing being the more subtle and
preferred image.
George Palovich, curator, West Valley
Art Museum |
 Ethnographic Artifacts
John Dawson
Dorothy Knop
Thomas Moran
George Resler
Henry Varnum Poor
Fine Art Prints
Elaine Rothwell
Fritz Scholder
Arthur Secunda
Japanese Woodcuts
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