Name

Druckma Press.

Culture

Australian

Type

Organisation

Start date

1977

Start place

113 Rosslyn Street, West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia View on map Close map

End date

16 September 1982

End place

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia View on map Close map

Occupations

Print workshop

Summary

Located: Australia (VIC). Lithographs

NGA IRN

14595

Context

Australia

See also

John Robinson; George Baldess; Les Kossatz

Biography

In 1976 John Robinson, met with George Baldessin in Paris, and they discussed the ‘possibility of [establishing]a workshop for our own use and to provide other artists with facilities … It was also to provide a collaborative work environment which promoted standards of excellence, being reminiscent of the renowned workshops of Europe and America.’ Robinson and Baldessin were joined by their friend, the artist Les Kossatz, in financing the venture.

In 1977 Druckma Press (named after the brand name of the lithographic press that Baldessin had found and the three had purchased) was established in West Melbourne. Neil Leveson became the principal workshop assistant. Druckma printed works by its owners as well as editioning for other artists. After Baldessin’s death in 1978 Robinson and Kossatz continued to run Druckma Press but it eventually became a burden for Kossatz who recalled that artists ‘came from everywhere to use it and so it became a commercial enterprise and not what it was set up for’. The partnership was dissolved in 1982.

Roger Butler, Printed images by Australian artists 1942-2020, Canberra: NGA, 2021]

Last Updated

10 Mar 2023