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| Print Council of Australia | |
|---|---|
| Name | Print Council of Australia |
| Formation | 1966 |
| Type | Arts organisation |
| Headquarters | Sydney |
| Location | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Leader title | Chair |
Print Council of Australia
The Print Council of Australia was an Australian arts organization founded in 1966 to promote graphic printmaking through advocacy, exhibitions, publications, commissions, and awards. It operated as a nexus connecting institutions, artists, curators, collectors, and critics across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, influencing practices linked with galleries, museums, universities, and print workshops. Through relationships with leading figures and bodies, it played a formative role in shaping the visibility of print media within Australian cultural life.
The council emerged in 1966 amidst institutional developments at the National Gallery of Victoria, Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Australia, and tertiary art schools such as the National Art School and the University of Melbourne. Founders and early proponents included practitioners and administrators with links to Tate Gallery, British Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and exhibition initiatives like the Venice Biennale and the Biennale of Sydney. During the 1970s, the council collaborated with entities such as the Australia Council for the Arts, the Commonwealth Gallery, and state-based bodies including the Victorian Arts Centre and the Art Gallery of South Australia. Key moments included national touring exhibitions and responses to debates about cultural policy exemplified by exchanges with the Australian Council of Trade Unions on arts funding and dialogues resonant with international discourses from the Print Council (UK) and the Printmakers Council of America. In the 1980s and 1990s, the council adjusted amid institutional shifts at the National Gallery of Victoria Contemporary, the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and university printrooms influenced by residencies akin to those at the Independent Practice Residency,] ] and workshops modelled on Atelier 17 and Tamarind Institute. Into the 21st century, the council’s activities responded to curatorial trends seen at the Sydney Biennale and collection policies of the National Gallery of Australia and regional museums.
The council’s stated objectives included promoting technical innovation in etching, lithography, screenprint and digital print through partnerships with workshops like the Victorian Print Workshop, Sturt Workshops, and artist-run spaces similar to TarraWarra Biennial affiliates. It sought to foster exchange among artists associated with Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan, Margaret Preston, John Olsen, Dorrit Black, and contemporaries working in print, as well as to support curators from institutions such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Western Australia. Activities included commissioning editions with printers who trained at studios influenced by Robert Blackburn, Käthe Kollwitz legacies, and pedagogies connected to the Royal College of Art and the Slade School of Fine Art. The council engaged with collectors, conservation specialists from the National Library of Australia and the State Library of Victoria, and critics writing for outlets like the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and arts journals paralleling Artforum and Art Monthly Australia.
The council produced catalogues, newsletters, and monographs documenting exhibitions, technical notes, and artist conversations that intersected with scholarship from the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Sansom Institute, and university presses including the University of New South Wales Press. It administered awards and purchase schemes that mirrored practices at the Archibald Prize, Wynne Prize, and acquisitive awards run by the Tate Britain and regional trusts, aiming to place prints in collections such as the National Gallery of Australia Collection, Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection, and university galleries. Through collaborations with foundations like the Calwell Trust and philanthropic donors aligned with the Myer Foundation, the council funded documentation and reproduction projects, and supported essays by writers linked to academic programs at the Australian National University and the University of Sydney.
The council organised symposia, technical seminars, and national conferences that convened printers, curators, and academics from venues such as the National Gallery of Victoria, University of Melbourne Faculty of Fine Arts, and the Queensland College of Art. Events featured international guests with affiliations to the International Print Center New York, the Centre Pompidou, and the Stedelijk Museum, creating dialogues comparable to sessions at the International Congress on Prints and Drawings and the World Printmakers Conference. Touring exhibitions and exchange programs involved collaboration with state galleries including the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, and regional cultural centres like the Shepparton Art Museum.
The council operated through an elected committee of artists, curators, printers, and collectors drawn from metropolitan and regional centres such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth. Its membership comprised practitioners associated with workshops like Sturt Workshops, institutions including the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales, academics from the University of Western Australia and the University of Queensland, and representatives from collecting bodies such as the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales. Governance practices reflected norms observed in arts organisations such as the Australia Council for the Arts and trusteeship models of the National Gallery of Victoria.
The council’s legacy is visible in strengthened institutional collecting policies at the National Gallery of Australia, enriched printrooms at the National Art School and regional universities, and in the careers of artists whose print editions entered major collections including the Art Gallery of New South Wales Collection and university museums. Its initiatives contributed to practices later taken up by contemporary curators at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, researchers at the Australian National University, and community programs associated with the Australia Council for the Arts. The Print Council’s archival traces remain in exhibition catalogues and institutional records held by collections such as the National Library of Australia and state galleries, informing ongoing scholarship on Australian printmaking traditions and curatorial histories.
Category:Arts organisations based in Australia