GLENS FALLS — The life and works of influential Black artist and master printer Robert Blackburn (1920-2003), whose innovation and expertise with the medium helped define the overall aesthetic of the American graphics “boom,” is highlighted in a new Smithsonian exhibition at The Hyde Collection.
The exhibition opened Jan. 29 and runs through April 24.
Blackburn was a key artist in developing printmaking in the United States. He became known as an influential teacher and master printer, engaging with avant-garde artistic ideas while promoting a new collaborative approach to a traditional medium. The exhibition traces Blackburn’s artistic evolution alongside the original prints of other iconic 20th-century American artists with whom he collaborated.
“For more than five decades, Robert Blackburn ran a workshop open to everyone. His printmaking knowledge and skill were legendary, and his generosity opened printmaking to generations of artists from around the world,” says Jonathan Canning, The Hyde’s Director of Curatorial Affairs and Programming. “At the same time, he was deeply connected to Black artistic circles including the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s
and 1970s.”
Blackburn was born to Jamaican immigrants in 1920, and raised in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, an unparalleled flourishing of the arts, centered in New York City’s creative black community. The arts were considered crucial to society’s well-being and a fertile medium for activism, and these values resonated with Blackburn throughout his life and work. In 1947, he founded a printmaking workshop as a welcoming space where artists of any level could learn and create together, and it remains in operation to this day. Blackburn’s art gradually shifted from figurative work to highly colored abstraction, creating a fascinating and engaging body of work.
“Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking,” curated by Deborah Cullen, is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) in cooperation with the Trust for Robert Blackburn and The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts’ Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop Program.
The museum is open 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays, and is located at 161 Warren St., Glens Falls. General Admission: $12, adults over the age of 18. Senior Admission (60+): $10.
The Hyde offers significant national and international exhibitions and a packed schedule of events that help visitors experience art in new ways. Visit www.Hydecollection.org, or call: 518-792-1761.
