The Foundation’s Director, Hannah Turpin, joined the American Federation of Arts on May 14 for a lively reception highlighting their sponsorship of the upcoming survey, Experimental Ground: Modernist Printmaking in Paris & New York at Atelier 17. Marking the centennial of the watershed William Stanley Hayter print workshop with a 2027–2028 tour beginning at The Bruce in Greenwich, CT (and later traveling to the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, KY), this show honors how the Atelier changed the course of the medium through new technologies, non-hierarchical learning, and the American avant-garde’s sense of material experimentation. With our deep holdings of nearly 300 prints made at Atelier 17 in The Marty O’Brien Collection of American Art, we are thrilled to be major lenders to this momentous exhibition with 21 loans, making up one-third of the works in the show.
The breakfast accompanied a deep-dive presentation by Ann Shafer, co-curator with Christina Weyl of the forthcoming exhibition. The event gave attendees special insight into the inspiration behind Atelier 17’s groundbreaking practices and its lasting legacy on modern art in the US.
Read our Collection Story on the significance of Atelier 17 in our holdings and wider art historical narratives.
Ann Shafer, co-curator of Experimental Ground: Modernist Printmaking in Paris & New York at Atelier 17, presents the major survey exhibition. Photo: Stephanie Santana.
Fred Becker (1913–2004). Kaleidoscopic Organism. 1946. Engraving, hard and soft ground etching. Image: 17 ½ x 14 ¾ in. The Marty O’Brien Collection of American Art.
