Printmakers at Midcentury

UCLA Faculty were at the forefront of a renaissance in printmaking that took place in Southern California in the 1950s and 1960s. During this time, numerous world-class master print shops were established throughout the U.S. and a growing number of artists produced original artworks using a variety of intaglio and lithographic processes. Several important print workshops opened their doors in Los Angeles alone, including Tamarind (1960), Gemini G.E.L. (1965), and Cirrus (1970), each of which continue to operate as prominent centers of experimental printmaking. Early practitioners like Stanton Macdonald-Wright established a medium disseminated by subsequent faculty, including Clinton Adams, who later served as a director of the Tamarind Institute, and John Paul Jones, who established a new Graphic Arts study area at UCLA in 1953. Students including Vija Celmins and Marvin Harden would also be known for their conceptually-inflected and technically rigorous printmaking practices. The distinguished legacy of master printing at UCLA is upheld today by current faculty member Jacob Samuel.