Variation in Print

Concurrently with Brice Marden. Inner Space, a special presentation of American fine art prints by Barnett Newman, Sam Francis, Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, and Brice Marden at the Hauptbau turns the spotlight on the so-called “graphic boom”: beginning in the 1960s, prominent American artists eagerly explored the potentials and challenges of printmaking. The exhibition features a diverse selection of prints by American artists, including works that are rarely on public view.

Starting in the 1960s, they became so intensively involved with the medium that this phenomenon has been described as the "Print Renaissance" and the "Graphic Boom. The medial and technical peculiarities of print provide stimuli that become central to their artistic concept. These include, for example, serial repetition, the use of found motifs, and the division of the idea and execution of the print among several participants. The fact that printmaking allows a large number of copies to be produced is understood as a great advantage - and not as a characteristic that relativizes the value of the print.
The selected prints show a range from simple line to calligraphic opulence, from strict form to moving gesture, from black-and-white reduction to exuberant color, and are thus signs of the constant variation and experimentation in the art of printing.