Title

Proofs and Processes.

Venues

National Gallery Of Australia (19 July 2025 – 28 June 2025)

Date

(2025)

Summary

Multi-artist exhibition. Located: Australia (ACT). Prints

Curator

Godoroja-Prieckaerts, Kira; Border, Abigail; Dixon-Smith, Imogen.

Web address

https://nga.gov.au/exhibitions/proofs-and-process…

Country of context

Australia

Abstract

'Proofs and Processes' features works on paper by six icons of Abstraction and Pop art. Helen Frankenthaler, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell, Robert Motherwell, James Rosenquist and Frank Stella worked with Tyler Graphics from 1986 to 2001 at the Mount Kisco premises in New York State. Master printer and workshop director Kenneth Tyler believed that ‘great prints are made only by great artists.’ So he courted the most significant American artists of the 20th century by offering them technical expertise with artistic freedom: ‘Here’s a workshop, there are no rules, no restrictions, do what you want to do.’

At Tyler Graphics, the traditional, the new and the unconventional converged to generate processes that created some of the most dynamic prints of the 20th century. Between 1965 and 2001, many artists worked with Tyler and his team of skilled collaborators at workshops in California and New York. Together, they would realise ambitious projects that pushed American printmaking into a new realm of material innovation and excellence. This exhibition draws from the National Gallery’s Kenneth E. Tyler Collection and associated archive to share insights into how complex works were made and demonstrates how artists tested and refined ideas through the proofing process. From printing with three-dimensional metal matrices and spraying colourful paper pulp to using traditional Japanese woodblock techniques, no method or material was off-limits.

This exhibition is presented to celebrate the release of Tyler Graphics Catalogue Raisonné 1986–2001 (publication date 25 August 2025).

Curators: Kira Godoroja-Prieckaerts, Kenneth E. Tyler Assistant Curator, International Prints and Drawings with Abigail Border, Kenneth E. Tyler Curatorial Assistant, Archive Digitisation and Imogen Dixon-Smith, former Kenneth E. Tyler Curator, International Prints and Drawings.

[National Gallery media, 2025].

Last Updated

07 Aug 2025