ArtZone 461 Gallery is pleased to present in our Main Space the second half of “Six Centuries of Printmaking.”  The exhibit provides an historic overview of the printing process and documents its evolution in technique and purpose.  

Political, satyrical etchings from the early 19th century accompany Jules Cheret’s color lithographs that bridge printmaking into a flourishing 20th century art form.  Vintage posters from around the globe meet contemporary prints by important artists such as Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Jacques Villon, Christopher Brown, Manuel Neri and many others.

A 2007 pigment print by Deborah Oropallo brings the exhibition full circle:  Gender bending subjects integrate traditional and new methods of printing, and opens doors for a new century in photo and digital based processes.

With the invention of color lithography, printmaking reached a pinnacle in advertising posters from the late 19th through mid 20th centuries.  This show includes Belle Époque French posters of the 1890s to Russian propaganda posters from the early 1960s.  At the time, digital imaging barely existed. Twenty first century prints in the show reflect the emergence of fine art presses and experimental approaches.