Paper Under Pressure: Monotypes from the Garner Tullis Workshop
Saturday, January 15, 1994 - Sunday, April 10, 1994
All the works that were a part of this exhibition were produced by the Garner Tullis Workshop and were the gift of Garner Tullis to the Ackland Art Museum. All were monotypes, prints of which only a single impression exists.
The Garner Tullis Workshop, started in California and now established in New York, had produced some of the finest contemporary American printmaking. It had stimulated the creativity both of established and younger artists. Although it had printed in many media, it had increasingly focused on unique processes such as papermaking and monotype.
Garner Tullis himself was born in Cincinnati and grew up in Pittsburgh. While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, he encountered many artists such as Robert Motherwell. These towering figures encouraged his experimentation in unconventional printing techniques.
After a year in Italy, Tullis moved to California by way of Cleveland. In Berkeley, he built a hydraulic press and began making embossed prints with its 25-ton cylinder. Since then, the Workshop that bears his name had become widely known for the quality of its printing.
The monotype process, which is in some respects that of transferring a painting from a plate to paper, is a particularly spontaneous one. Although the processes of monotype are complicated and fascinating, Tullis preferred that the products of his studio be appreciated as aesthetic objects and not as the results of elaborate technical procedures. For him, it was the visual result that counts and not the craft involved. Accordingly, the works in this exhibition were presented without comment for the delight of visitors to the Museum.
The Garner Tullis Workshop, started in California and now established in New York, had produced some of the finest contemporary American printmaking. It had stimulated the creativity both of established and younger artists. Although it had printed in many media, it had increasingly focused on unique processes such as papermaking and monotype.
Garner Tullis himself was born in Cincinnati and grew up in Pittsburgh. While studying at the University of Pennsylvania, he encountered many artists such as Robert Motherwell. These towering figures encouraged his experimentation in unconventional printing techniques.
After a year in Italy, Tullis moved to California by way of Cleveland. In Berkeley, he built a hydraulic press and began making embossed prints with its 25-ton cylinder. Since then, the Workshop that bears his name had become widely known for the quality of its printing.
The monotype process, which is in some respects that of transferring a painting from a plate to paper, is a particularly spontaneous one. Although the processes of monotype are complicated and fascinating, Tullis preferred that the products of his studio be appreciated as aesthetic objects and not as the results of elaborate technical procedures. For him, it was the visual result that counts and not the craft involved. Accordingly, the works in this exhibition were presented without comment for the delight of visitors to the Museum.