About Prints: The Legacy of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17

In 1962 Stanley William Hayter published his second major text on the graphic arts that he intended for “the intelligent layman” who might collect or have an interest in the contemporary printmaking. About Prints was reviewed extensively by art critics, historians and other printmakers and generally acclaimed “a standard work both for the potential collector and anyone interested in modern art.” Hayter was the founder of Atelier 17 and by the early 1960s considered one of the most influential printmakers of the 20th century in large part because of the environment he created in his Parisian and New York print studios. Working with some of the most important artists of the day, Hayter championed experimentation and the development of new printing techniques while understanding that any form of printmaking is merely a tool for the expression of an artistic idea.

The exhibition, About Prints: The Legacy of Stanley William Hayter and Atelier 17, explores Hayter’s ideas about contemporary printmaking and the artists who created these works. Using Hayter’s own checklist of important prints the exhibition looks at why these images are innovative or essential to understanding how the graphic arts were being transformed throughout the 20th century. Prints by recognizable artists such as Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Henry Moore are examined along with other important visionaries such as Andre Masson, Max Ernst and Joan Miro. Technical innovators like Karl Schrag, Arthur Deshaies, and Krishna Reddy are also represented in the exhibition along with Helen Phillips, Mauricio Lasansky and S. W. Hayter.

In addition to work included from the Syracuse University Art Collection’s vast works on paper holdings, there will be numerous works on loan to the exhibition from museums and private collections, including Yale University Art Gallery, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brooklyn Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Blanton Museum of Art, Memorial Art Gallery, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, University of Michigan Museum of Art, and Smith College Museum of Art.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website