Singular Multiples: The Peter Blum Edition Archive, 1980-1994 (Houston Museum of Fine Arts S)

Peter Blum was the first print publisher in the United States to introduce and promote a new generation of European, Asian, and American artists to a larger public. Singular Multiples presents all of the extraordinary works from the Blum Edition Archive, which contains completed portfolios, single editions, books, preparatory drawings, maquettes, working and trial proofs, and printing blocks and plates, totaling more than 1,200 works. This major archive was acquired in 1996 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and is published here for the first time.
Generously illustrated and handsomely produced, this book includes thematic essays that address the various collaborations between prominent artists and Peter Blum.  These essays are followed by detailed entries on the portfolios in the collection, including works by John Baldessari, Jonathan Borofsky, Louise Bourgeois, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Eric Fischl, Alex Katz, Barbara Kruger, Brice Marden, James Turrell, Terry Winters, Yukiori Yanagi, and others. Singular Multiples also includes a listing of related proofs and drawings and discusses the collection within the art historical context of the 1980s, all of which reveals Blum’s “ability to persuade the best painters and sculptors of his day to produce prints” and his tremendous impact on the contemporary art world.



Distributed for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Exhibition Schedule:

(multiple shows) The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (April 23 – September 24, 2006; May 21 – September 24, 2006; and July 15 – October 15, 2006)

Barry Walker is Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art and Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Faye Hirsch is senior editor at Art in America. Vincent Katz is a poet and critic. Jeremy Lewison is an art consultant and freelance curator, formerly Director of Collections of the Tate Gallery. Raphael Rubinstein is senior editor at Art in America. Phyllis Tuchman is a freelance critic and journalist.