Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
April 3 – July 24, 2016 West Building, Ground Floor, Outer Tier Galleries
Frances Flora Palmer, A Midnight Race on the Mississippi (detail), 1860, color lithograph with hand-coloring on wove paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Donald and Nancy de Laski Fund, 2012
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
John Simon after John Verelst, Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas, after 1710, mezzotint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Paul Mellon Fund, 2001
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
John Hill after William Guy Wall, View from Fishkill Looking to West Point, 1821–1825, from The Hudson River Portfolio, hand-colored aquatint and engraving, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Donald and Nancy deLaski Fund, 2013
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Robert Havell Jr. after John James Audubon, American White Pelican, 1836, from The Birds of America, hand-colored etching and aquatint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mrs. Walter B. James, 1945
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Michele Fanoli after Richard Caton Woodville, Politics in an Oyster-House, 1851, hand-colored lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Estate of William Woodville VIII), 2015
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Frances Flora Palmer, A Midnight Race on the Mississippi, 1860, color lithograph with hand-coloring, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Donald and Nancy deLaski Fund, 2012
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne, 1879/1880, etching and drypoint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. Watson Webb in memory of Mr. and Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer, 1942
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Mary Cassatt, Woman Bathing, 1890–1891, drypoint and aquatint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mrs. Lessing J. Rosenwald, 1989
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
John Marin, Woolworth Building, No. 1, 1913, etching with monotype inking, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Avalon Fund, 1981
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
George Bellows, A Stag at Sharkey's, 1917, lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1956
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Louis Lozowick, New York, 1923, lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Jacob Kainen, 2002
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Mabel Dwight, Queer Fish, 1936, lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Grant Wood, Shrine Quartet, 1939, lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Jackson Pollock, Untitled, 1944/1945 (printed 1967), engraving and drypoint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, The William Stamps Farish Fund, 2009
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Andy Warhol, Marilyn, 1967, screenprint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art
Kara Walker, no world, 2010, from An Unpeopled Land in Uncharted Waters, etching, aquatint, sugarlift aquatint, spitbite aquatint, and drypoint, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Donald and Nancy deLaski Fund, 2015
This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.
Overview: This exhibition surveys how America and its people have been represented in prints made by American and non-American artists between 1710 and 2010. Early prints of the continent’s indigenous peoples, its landscapes, flora and fauna, its historical events, wars, and citizenry reflect the curiosity of Europeans about a world they perceived as new and strange. At the same time, American artists often turned to prints to present a vision of their youthful democracy.
Prints are well-suited for quickly conveying images of contemporary events to a wide audience, and thus have often been a forum for social commentary or criticism. The exhibition includes works from across the centuries that aim to raise awareness and inspire change. On view, for instance, is an engraving of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere as well as a broadside from more than two hundred years later by the undercover feminist collective known as the Guerrilla Girls. The exhibition also features works by artists equally drawn to the aesthetic potential of printmaking. From James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, and others of the late nineteenth century to Jackson Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler in the twentieth, vanguard artists have explored printmaking’s unique artistic possibilities. In recent years, radical experiments by artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, and Richard Serra have pushed to the breaking point the very definition of the medium.
The more than 150 prints in this exhibition, mounted on the occasion of the National Gallery’s 75th anniversary, are drawn entirely from the Gallery’s collection, including promised gifts.
Organization: Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington
Sponsors: The exhibition is made possible by Altria Group in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art.
The international tour of the exhibition is sponsored by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Additional support is provided by The Exhibition Circle of the National Gallery of Art.
Other Venues: National Gallery, Prague, October 5, 2016–January 8, 2017 Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso, Mexico City, February 8–April 30, 2017 Dallas Museum of Art, May 28–September 3, 2017
