I'm a bit bummed this absolutely amazing show is already almost over--wanna go back.
Honestly, when I heard about this show, I figured they got 6-10 prints loaned and put them up, this is a pretty extensive survey of years of printmaking output, from screen prints, to etchings, lithographs and many inventive colograph and monotype prints one could spend hours looking at. They also include some of the plates!
From Artdaily"The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to examine Beardenʼs print making process as he worked and re-worked a particular image, theme or technique, to consider how his thinking and approaches were shaped through collaborations with master printmakers and to understand how key themes and motifs like trains, family life, rituals, urban scenes, jazz and mythology extended his artistic imagination from collage into other media.
The works in the exhibition show Beardenʼs extraordinary facility for weaving into every art form a rich tapestry of literary, biblical, mythological, popular culture and western and non-western themes that were informed by his African American cultural experiences. Included are prints based on collages like the Odysseus Series and Piano Lesson that he reworked in several media through changes in technique, scale and color and through the use of photographic processes. Also included are two important photoengraving series, The Train and The Family and the extraordinary limited edition 12 Trains. John Loring writing in Arts Magazine in 1973 proclaimed The Train “one of the 10 most important prints of our time.”
August Wilson Center Website
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