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Out of Print: Innovations of 19th- and 20th-Century Printmaking from the Collection
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Through April 25, 2021, Out of Print: Innovations of 19th- and 20th-Century Printmaking from the Collection of Phoenix Art Museum and the Schorr Collection presents a new assortment of works from the renowned Schorr Collection, on long-term loan from collectors David and Hannah Lewis, including a wide selection of prints on view for the first time in Arizona.
The special installation explores the history of printmaking in Europe and the United States, focusing particularly on the 19th and 20th centuries, through 50 prints drawn from both the Schorr Collection and the Museum’s own European and American art collections, including many by artists such as Paul Klee, Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, Käthe Kollwitz, and more that have rarely been exhibited.
Amassed over four decades by the Lewis family, the United Kingdom-based Schorr Collection is considered one of the most important collections of Old Master and 19thcentury paintings in the world. The collection features more than 400 works, including tender 15th-century devotional images, 19th-century French Impressionist landscapes, works by 20th-century Modern Masters, and a wide selection of prints. To increase access to these significant artworks, the Lewis family often shares them with public museums on a long-term basis, and in 2017, Phoenix Art Museum welcomed a selection to bring to Arizona audiences.
JANUARY 2 – APRIL 25, 2021 LILA AND JOEL HARNETT GALLERY In Out of Print, 19th- and 20th-century prints from the Schorr Collection by Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Jean-François Millet, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and others are placed in conversation with works of the same centuries from the Museum’s American and European art collections. Rachel Sadvary Zebro, assistant curator at Phoenix Art Museum who curated the new installation, said the main goal of Out of Print is twofold. First, she hopes to broaden viewers’ understanding of the history of printmaking.
“The first massed-produced woodcut prints on paper and metal prints originated in the 15th century in Germany, and the process was considered a reproductive art form to bring art to the widest possible audience through early devotional woodcuts, playing cards, books, and engraved plates that were collected and shared among the masses,” Sadvary Zebro said. “Then in the 19th century, avant-garde artists reclaimed the process of printmaking as they openly rejected academic, classical styles of painting. By creating original printed designs and compositions with formal,
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image credits: (above) Robert Rauschenberg, Features (from Currents) 76, 1970. Screenprint. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas. © Robert Rauschenberg Foundation; (right) David Bekker, Between Two Worlds, not dated. Etching. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Louis Rosenthal. © Estate of David Bekker.
