Title

No gods, no master-printers: Melbourne prints in the late 1960s.

Author

Perin, Victoria.

Source

Prints, printmaking and philanthropy: A symposium celebrating 50 years of The Harold Wright and The Sarah and William Holmes Scholarships. Melbourne: University of Melbourne, 30 September - 2 October 2019.

Publication date

29 September 2019

Type

Conference paper

Language

English

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

Melbourne’s Self-Printing Tradition. Victoria Perin, PhD Candidate, Art History Program, the School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne No gods, no master-printers: Melbourne prints in the late 1960s The single defining feature of printmaking in Melbourne in the postwar decades was the dearth of developed master-printing workshops. Throughout the 1960s, any artist who felt the pull of the print-medium (and interest in prints were near universal in the art community in that decade) was required to self-draw, self-carve, and self-print their works. If they didn’t know anyone with an adapted mangle-press in their garage, or some other improvised equipment, they would need access to an art school, typically RMIT, where they might be permitted to mess around for a few afternoons. Janet Dawson’s Gallery A Print Workshop (Melbourne dates: 1963–965), supported by gallerist Max Hutchinson, was the one exception to this situation in the 1960s. However, Dawson’s workshop had limited access, and after less than two brief years, Dawson left Melbourne and the press followed her to Sydney. After 1968, a young artist might access the Winfield Building Studio set up by George Baldessin, but this too was a limited space, where printmaking was technical and had developed factions. The role of a master-printer is to support and encourage artists, to foster and facilitate their ambitions in printed form. What kind of printmaking can be done if the enthusiasm for print exists, but the ambitions are sparse or curtailed? This paper proposes that artists managed this situation by merging logics inherent to print art into other mediums, such as visual poetry and photography. This resulted in hybrid practices, informed by printmaking, where notable amateur (i.e. ‘unprofessional’) or home-printed aesthetics thrived. [Conference Program]