Robert Blackburn: American printmaker.
Item
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Title
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Robert Blackburn: American printmaker.
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Identifier
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AAI3063821
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identifier
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3063821
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Creator
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Cullen, Deborah T.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Diane Kelder
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Date
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2002
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Art History | Black Studies | Biography
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Abstract
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Robert Blackburn (b. 1920) affected the course of American printmaking through his graphic works, and the institution he founded in New York in 1948, The Printmaking Workshop (PMW). When cited, he has been contextualized as a black WPA artist or as printer-teacher, at both PMW and Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE). As a teen, he learned lithography in the Harlem WPA; he was intrinsic to the formation of ULAE as well as PMW. However, Blackburn's passage through lithography is epic, linking the Harlem WPA era with the "graphics boom" of the 1960s. His fluency and technical mastery of complex, abstract, color lithography contributed to forging the well-known ULAE expression.;This study chronicles Blackburn's graphic oeuvre and influences. The first chapter assesses the 1930s uptown arts community, who responded to the Harlem Renaissance's intellectual and artistic legacy, European abstraction, African art, and the artistic ideologies and political tendencies of both American social realism and Mexican modernism.;The second section examines the 1940s and 1950s, when Blackburn encountered varied modernist currents at the Art Students League, including "Indian Space Painters," Atelier 17's Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism. His work for The Harmon Foundation, initiation of PMW, groundbreaking lithograph collaboration with Will Barnet (1951--1952), and travel to Europe is outlined.;The third chapter covers his most productive period, from the late 1950s until 1971. It investigates his tenure as the first master printer of ULAE (1957--1963) while reviewing his mature lithographs---complicated, varicolored abstractions. They prefigured or complimented the more familiar ULAE production, and as precursor and participant, Blackburn influenced Larry Rivers, Grace Hartigan, Robert Rauschenberg, and the ULAE aesthetic in general.;The final portion summarizes from 1971 to the present, including PMW's incorporation, organizational structure, and select sponsored projects, while focusing on collaborative efforts that affected Blackburn's prints. Romare Bearden and Krishna Reddy inspired Blackburn in monotype and intaglio; Blackburn also created small- and large-scale woodcuts in the 1970s and 1980s. In conclusion, appendixes outline a preliminary Blackburn print catalogue, and a formative listing the artists of PMW.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
