The Art Institute of Houston Announces Retour Des Artistes
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Retour des Artistes is an exhibition of reproduction prints of fine art images from the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries. These prints comprise a description of an age, a time when the people and places of America and Europe had more in common with The Age of Reason than with The Age of the Machine. The unifying theme among them is the absence of The Industrial Revolution and its disruptive social and physical consequences.
Paper is a reliable yet fragile medium - its’ propensity to decay is well-known, and many of this exhibition’s original prints have experienced significant physical deterioration. The toll exacted by time, the elements, and neglect, coupled with the structural decay of their paper supports (acidification) has reduced the number of prints from this period to a precious few. It’s impossible to know how many prints survive today, but many have been lost. As a consequence, the reputations of the artists who made them have suffered as well. Sadly, few print artists from The Etching Revival are known today outside the cloistered world of print collectors, professional dealers and museum curators.
The purpose of this exhibition is to introduce these artists and their work to a new audience, while at the same time providing a glimpse into a culture and sensibility long since gone. Digital technology makes it possible to more fully realize each artist’s aesthetic intent through image enlargement, the enhanced visibility of image details, and more nuanced colorization. Re-issuing these prints ensures their survival and availability to future generations.
Each exhibition print was first digitally copied, corrected and re-sized; and then printed using a high-resolution inkjet printer and pigment-based fine art inks. The paper support is a fully buffered 250 gsm 100% cotton, neutral pH, chlorine-free, fine art watercolor paper. The images in this exhibition were created using original prints from the collection of William and Mary Lanigan, who have been collecting prints from the period known as The Etching Revival for over forty years.