Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California

The first goal enumerated upon the founding of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles in 1960 was to “create a pool of master artisan-printers in the United States” in an effort to revive the method of fine art lithography. With those words, and the dedication to create a workshop that would educate printers, artists, curators and collectors alike, Tamarind sparked a renaissance in the graphic arts—one that spread well beyond Los Angeles and the medium of lithography—establishing and legitimizing all methods of printmaking as viable and valuable forms of art making, even for the most avant-garde of post-war artists. Proof explores the significance of printmaking and its new possibilities as first re-envisioned in post-war Southern California.

Drawing on the extensive collection of the Norton Simon Museum with a few select loans, the exhibition includes works by the local founders of this movement such as John Altoon, Garo Antreasian, Sam Francis, Ed Moses, Ken Price, Ed Ruscha and June Wayne, as well as those who traveled to Los Angeles specifically to print, such as Joseph Albers, Bruce Conner, Lee Mullican, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg and Robert Rauschenberg.

Proof: The Rise of Printmaking in Southern California, is part of Pacific Standard Time, an unprecedented collaboration of more than fifty cultural institutions across Southern California, which are coming together to tell the story of the birth of the LA art scene. Pacific Standard Time takes place for six months beginning October 2011.