Breakthrough: Prints from ULAE

Grosman and her husband, Maurice, settled in New York in 1943 after fleeing war in Europe. When Maurice suffered a heart attack in 1955, Grosman made and sold reproductions of paintings to support them, with the ambition of publishing illustrated books. Encouraged by the Museum of Modern Art’s curator of prints, William Lieberman, and prompted by the discovery of Bavarian lithographic stones in her own yard, she began inviting artists to create original lithographs. Grosman’s singular focus on artists and her intimate workshop environment–defined by exacting technical standards and close collaboration–drew an ever-larger circle of artists to explore the medium.

Working at ULAE during the same years as Bontecou and Frankenthaler, Marisol brought a distinct visual language to the workshop, combining pop and folk art sensibilities to satirize gender dynamics and societal norms. In part due to Marisol’s influence, as well as that of artists such as James Rosenquist and Jim Dine and transitional figures such as Johns and Rauschenberg who bridged Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, ULAE became associated with a Pop sensibility in its early years.

Works by Bontecou and Rauschenberg, printed from the same lithographic stone, will be on view in the exhibition. These works share a distinctive diagonal line across their respective compositions, reflecting a crack in the stone. Bontecou used the stone to create her seminal print, Fourth Stone (1963) and Rauschenberg later used the stone for two lithographs including Breakthrough II (1965).

Artists working in the 1980s through early 2000s, including Dunham, Smith, Winters, and Yuskavage brought with them unique styles ranging from organic forms to bold figuration.

Smith, one of the foremost printmakers working today, poetically investigates the body’s relationship to spirituality, myth, and the natural world. On view will be Smith’s Pool of Tears II (2000) pulled from one of the largest plates the workshop’s etching press could accommodate, underscoring the creative ambition that defines ULAE’s legacy.

ULAE’s long history of collaboration has inspired a number of leading painters and sculptors, including Marina Adams, Joe Bradley, Martin Puryear and Charline von Heyl to explore printmaking, embracing its creative potential and reviving a centuries-old artistic medium for the contemporary moment. In celebration of the workshop’s lasting legacy, works by these artists and others, including newly published editions, are featured online to coincide with the exhibition.