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| California Society of Printmakers | |
|---|---|
| Name | California Society of Printmakers |
| Formation | 1915 |
| Type | Nonprofit arts organization |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Region served | California, United States |
| Leader title | President |
California Society of Printmakers The California Society of Printmakers is a nonprofit arts organization based in San Francisco founded in 1915 to promote printmaking and support printmakers across California, the United States, and internationally. The Society has historical ties to the San Francisco Art Association, the California School of Fine Arts, the de Young Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and it maintains active relationships with contemporary institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Getty Center, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
The organization traces roots to artist communities in San Francisco, the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and the Bohemian Club, with early involvement from figures associated with the San Francisco Art Association, the California School of Fine Arts, the de Young Museum, and the Legion of Honor. During the 1930s and 1940s the Society intersected with WPA Federal Art Project initiatives, the Works Progress Administration, and artists connected to the San Francisco Museum of Art and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, while later postwar developments linked members to the San Francisco Art Institute, the California College of the Arts, and the University of California, Berkeley. In the late 20th century the Society engaged with national organizations such as the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Federation of Arts, and the College Art Association, and it collaborated with galleries and museums including the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Recent decades have seen partnerships with the Asian Art Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the Cantor Arts Center, and the San Jose Museum of Art, reflecting ongoing involvement with contemporary biennials, print fairs, and international exchanges connected to institutions like the Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and Gesellschaft für Moderne Kunst.
The Society is governed by a board of directors drawn from academic institutions such as the California College of the Arts, the San Francisco Art Institute, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the University of California, Los Angeles, with advisory input from curators at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Getty Research Institute, the National Gallery of Art, and the Library of Congress. Operational activities are managed by an executive director who coordinates programs with partners including the de Young Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the Asian Art Museum, and regional arts commissions such as the San Francisco Arts Commission and the California Arts Council. The organizational structure incorporates committees modeled on practices from the College Art Association, the American Alliance of Museums, and nonprofit governance standards promoted by foundations like the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.
Membership has included artists, printmakers, curators, and educators affiliated with institutions such as the San Francisco Art Institute, the California College of the Arts, Stanford University, Yale University, and Pratt Institute. Notable members and exhibitors have been associated with names and institutions like Diego Rivera, David Park, Richard Diebenkorn, Wayne Thiebaud, Ruth Asawa, Ed Ruscha, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Ansel Adams, and photographers and printmakers connected to the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and the National Gallery of Art. The Society’s membership rolls have also featured artists tied to movements and venues such as Abstract Expressionism, Bay Area Figurative Movement, the San Francisco Renaissance, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the New York School, as well as educators from the University of California, Santa Cruz, the University of California, Davis, and Mills College.
Prints associated with the organization appear in public collections and archives at institutions including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the de Young Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Library of Congress. The Society has deposited portfolios and archival material with university museums and special collections at Stanford University Libraries, the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the Getty Research Institute, and the Bancroft Library, while also collaborating with regional museums such as the Crocker Art Museum, the San Jose Museum of Art, and the Laguna Art Museum.
The Society organizes juried exhibitions, invitational shows, traveling exhibitions, and collaborative projects with museums and galleries including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the de Young Museum, the Asian Art Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. Programs have partnered with art fairs and events such as the Armory Show, Frieze, Art Basel, and Print Council of America initiatives, and the Society has presented curated exhibitions featuring works tied to the San Francisco Art Institute, the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, the College Art Association, and regional cultural festivals.
Educational programming targets students, emerging artists, and communities through workshops, demonstrations, portfolio reviews, and collaborations with academic institutions like the California College of the Arts, the San Francisco Art Institute, the University of California system, Stanford University, and community organizations such as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and local arts councils. Outreach includes partnerships with schools and public programs at museums including the de Young Museum, the Asian Art Museum, the Oakland Museum of California, and the Cantor Arts Center, and it aligns with professional development models promoted by the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Alliance of Museums.
The Society issues exhibition catalogues, annual reports, and editioned portfolios that have been documented in publications associated with the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Getty Research Institute, the National Gallery of Art, and university presses at Stanford University, University of California Press, Yale University Press, and Routledge, and its printed and digital catalogues are held in research libraries including the Library of Congress, the Bancroft Library, and the Getty Research Institute.
Category:Arts organizations based in California Category:Printmaking organizations