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Printed: Images by Australian artists 1942-2020

Printed: Images by Australian artists 1942-2020

Roger Butler

Printed: Images by Australian artists 1942 - 2020

Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2021

416 pages, 519 colour illustrations, 29 x 24 cm., Bibliography, endnotes, index.

ISBN 9780642334930

Printed: Images by Australian artists 1942 — 2020 traces the history of printmaking by Australian artists during an era of dramatic changes in Australian society and the visual arts. Arranged in three sections, it begins with the innovative wartime policy initiatives of the Commonwealth. Reconstruction Scheme which laid the groundwork for crucial development in the arts. In this period emigre artists and Australian artists returning home helped established printmaking societies, art galleries and publishers — which underpinned the growing popularity of this most democratic of art forms.

The second section explores the rise of political and social posters, which became one of the most dynamic forms of print practice in the 1970s and 1980s, and prints by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists which have been at the forefront of Australian art since the 1970s. The book's final section discusses the continuing responses by printmakers to key concerns of our time, focusing on the themes of land and identity.

Printed: Images by Australian Artists 1942-2020 is supported by Marilyn Darling AC and the late Gordon Darling AC CMG through the Gordon Darling Foundation, and John Hindmarsh AM & Rosanna Hindmarsh OAM through HINDMARSH.

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Acknowledgements
  • Part one: Beginnings: The post-war scene.
    • Post war reconstruction. (p.2-15)
    • New Australians. (p.16-25)
    • Australian artists abroad: London and Paris. (p.26-55)
    • Printmaking tuition in Australia: 1950s-1970s. (p.56-105)
    • Establishing a professional practice. (p.106-111)
  • Part two: Establishing infrastructure
    • Taking stock: Hierarchy of print techniques. (p.114-135)
    • Curated exhibitions: Establishing the canon. 1960-72. (p.136-161)
    • Organising printmakers. (p.162-163)
    • Defining an original print. (p.164-169)
    • Establishing Access Workshops. (p.171-175)
    • Publishing prints: Commercial print workshops. (p.176-187)
    • Promoting prints. (p.188-195)
    • Collecting and collections. (p.196-201)
    • Etching to screenprint: Hard-edge, Op and Pop. (p.202-217)
    • Challenges. (p.218-221)
  • Part three: Committed to print
    • Print Matters. (p.224-247)
    • Social and political posters. (p.248-279)
    • Prints by Aboriginal artists before 2000. (p.280-323)
    • Prints by Torres Strait Islanders (p.324-335)
    • Engagement with the region (p.336-343)
    • Projects of recovery. (p.344-349)
    • Continuing concerns. (p.350-379)
  • End notes. (p.380-392)
  • Select bibliography. (p.393-395)
  • Index. (p.396-413)