Thirty-five Years at Crown Point Press: Making Prints, Doing Art - Softcover

Breuer, Karin; Fine, Ruth; Nash, Steven A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520210611 ISBN 13: 9780520210615

Publisher: University of California Press, 1997

Synopsis

Crown Point Press in San Francisco, founded in 1962 by Kathan Brown, is a world-renowned center of contemporary printmaking. It has published work by such major figures as Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Sol LeWitt, and Wayne Thiebaud, while bringing to attention prints by many younger artists, including April Gornik, Anish Kapoor, Eric Fischl, and Francesco Clemente. Crown Point Press is known for presenting social and political issues in a range of printmaking media, from hard- and soft-ground etching to drypoint, aquatint, and mezzotint.

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco acquired the Crown Point Press archive in 1991. This collection of nearly 800 works contains one impression of every print the Press has ever produced. Also included are over 2000 working proofs and preparatory sketches. Now, in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has organized an exhibition of these distinctive prints. Chronicling Crown Point Press's dedication to artistic quality and commitment to innovation in printmaking technique and subject matter, this book also presents Kathan Brown's notable contributions in transforming the printmaking landscape of the twentieth century.

Published in association with The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

About this title

Review:

Over the course of the past 35 years, California-based fine art publisher Crown Point Press has established one of the finest reputations in the printmaking and publishing world. Founded by Kathan Brown, the press is most renowned for its innovative and experimental uses of the oldest and most traditional printmaking processes: etching and woodcut. Under Brown's direction, Crown Point's master printmakers have worked on an astonishingly broad array of projects, including those of John Cage, Tom Marioni, and Pat Steir. The press has also printed and published important minimalist and conceptual graphics, as well as editions by such painterly painters as Richard Diebenkorn, Francesco Clemente, and Helen Frankenthaler. More than 200 full-color, beautifully reproduced prints in this softcover volume document the entire history and development of Crown Point, confirming its unique and enduring contribution to the transformation of 20th-century printmaking.

About the Author:

Ruth Fine is Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. Karin Breuer is Associate Curator of the Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, the prints and drawings department of The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Steven A. Nash is Associate Director and Chief Curator of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0520210611
• ISBN 13: 9780520210615
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216