Society of American Graphic Artists

Last updated
Society of American Graphic Artists
Formation1915 (1915)
PurposeArtist-run membership organization promoting a greater appreciation of fine prints among collectors and the general public
Location
  • 32 Union Sq E, Suite 1214, New York, NY 10003
Website sagaprints.com
Formerly called
Brooklyn Society of Etchers,
Society of American Etchers, Inc

The Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) is a not for profit national fine arts organization serving professional artists in the field of printmaking. SAGA provides its members with exhibition, reviews and networking opportunities in the New York City area [1] and, in addition to various substantial exhibition prizes, many purchase awards allow SAGA members to be included in major U.S. museum collections.

Contents

The origins of the organization date back to 1915 with the formation of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers. [2] [ circular reference ] After several name changes, the present title was adopted in 1952 to allow for the inclusion of a full range of hand pulled printmaking techniques. Over the course of its close to 100 years of continuous operation, many important national and international modern artists have exhibited with SAGA, including Henri Matisse, Käthe Kollwitz, John Sloan, Edward Hopper, Pablo Picasso, Mary Cassatt, Joseph Pennell, John Marin, Childe Hassam, Will Barnet and John Taylor Arms. SAGA continues to attract a diverse group of contemporary printmakers who serve as important contributors to and ambassadors of printmaking in the United States. SAGA also maintains a collector print collection of member work and publishes a periodical journal of writing on printmaking-related topics, SAGAzine. SAGA's current offices are at the former New York studio of John Sloan.

History

SAGA has been active since its inception in 1915 under the name of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, and has organized over 79 National Member Exhibitions, in addition to various international, traveling and exchange exhibitions. [2] [ circular reference ]

In relation to other artists’ associations of the time, SAGA was modeled more closely to the French impressionist group (Cooperative Society of Painters, Sculptors, Engravers, etc.) which was focused on organizing exhibitions for its members, rather than other printmaking organizations such as the British Etching Club or the French Society of Etchers (Societe des Aquafortistes) which were highly selective and secretive with very few members or focused more on commercial promotions, respectively. [3]

With the advent of artists’ societies and clubs in the United States in the latter part of the 19th century, the New York Etching Club founded in 1877 gave way to establishment of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers which was organized 22 years after its disbandment. Founding members included Troy Kinney, Eugene Higgins, Fred Reynolds, Paul Roche, and Ernest Roth. Approximately 200 etchings by 65 artists including John Taylor Arms, Frank W. Benson, Mary Cassatt, Childe Hassam, John Marin, and Mahonri Young were exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum as part of the organization's inaugural exhibition. [4] [5]

The organization continued to grow aggressively during the first fifteen years of its existence with both the membership and number of prints exhibited at the annual exhibitions tripling. The first international exhibition was organized at the Anderson Galleries in New York in 1922, including works by several major European and American artists such as Mary Cassatt, Ernest Haskell, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Wilhelm Lembrook, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro, and John Sloan.

The organization decided to rename to the Society of American Etchers, Inc. since membership had grown to include many other geographic areas beyond Brooklyn, and the exhibitions were moved from the Brooklyn Museum to the National Arts Club in New York. Membership grew to include important printmakers of the 1930s including Isabelle Bishop, Mina Citron, Kenneth Hayes, Stanley William Hayter, John Sloan and Reginald Marsh. During this time, exhibit exchanges with European print clubs were organized.

In 1947, the society organized the largest show in its history, a collection of over 650 prints at the National Academy. Since many of these prints utilized techniques such as woodcut, wood engraving, and lithography, the organization was renamed to the Society of American Etchers, Gravers, Lithographers, and Woodcutters, Inc. and then again to its current designation the Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) in 1952.

With the ever changing climate of visual arts, printmaking has also undergone changes from the birth of non-objectivity, to surrealism, abstraction and beyond. A study of the catalogues of SAGA's exhibitions reflects these changes but it also shows SAGA's openness to all styles. In this respect the society has always followed the precept of its longtime president from 1931 to 1952, John Taylor Arms, who felt that SAGA should represent all techniques and styles in order to represent a true cross section of contemporary printmaking.

Notable past and present members

Since its inception, SAGA has had many renowned professional artists as members and exhibitors.

* Past president

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Cassatt</span> American painter and printmaker (1844–1926)

Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, and lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar Degas and exhibited with the Impressionists. Cassatt often created images of the social and private lives of women, with particular emphasis on the intimate bonds between mothers and children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquatint</span> Tonal printmaking technique

Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used historically to print in colour, both by printing with multiple plates in different colours, and by making monochrome prints that were then hand-coloured with watercolour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Impressionism</span> Style of painting

American Impressionism was a style of painting related to European Impressionism and practiced by American artists in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. The style is characterized by loose brushwork and vivid colors with a wide array of subject matters but focusing on landscapes and upper-class domestic life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Käthe Kollwitz</span> German artist (1867–1945)

Käthe Kollwitz was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including The Weavers and The Peasant War, depict the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working class. Despite the realism of her early works, her art is now more closely associated with Expressionism. Kollwitz was the first woman not only to be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but also to receive honorary professor status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Childe Hassam</span> American painter (1859–1935)

Frederick Childe Hassam was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressionism to American collectors, dealers, and museums. He produced over 3,000 paintings, oils, watercolors, etchings, and lithographs over the course of his career, and was an influential American artist of the early 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intaglio (printmaking)</span> Family of printing and printmaking techniques

Intaglio is the family of printing and printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface and the incised line or sunken area holds the ink. It is the direct opposite of a relief print where the parts of the matrix that make the image stand above the main surface.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etching revival</span> Art movement between 1850s and c. 1930

The etching revival was the re-emergence and invigoration of etching as an original form of printmaking during the period approximately from 1850 to 1930. The main centres were France, Britain and the United States, but other countries, such as the Netherlands, also participated. A strong collector's market developed, with the most sought-after artists achieving very high prices. This came to an abrupt end after the 1929 Wall Street crash wrecked what had become a very strong market among collectors, at a time when the typical style of the movement, still based on 19th-century developments, was becoming outdated.

Martin Lewis was an Australian-born American etcher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Society of Printmakers</span> US non-profit arts organization

The California Society of Printmakers (CSP) is the oldest continuously operating association of printmakers and friends of printmakers in the United States. CSP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization with an international membership of print artists and supporters of the art of fine printmaking. CSP promotes professional development and opportunity for printmakers, and educates artists and the public about printmaking. New members are admitted by portfolio review. Friends, Institutional and Business members are admitted by fee. CSP is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Taylor Arms</span> American etcher

John Taylor Arms was an American etcher.

The Society of Canadian Painter-Etchers and Engravers (CPE) was a non-profit organization of Canadian etchers and engravers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernest Haskell</span> American artist

Ernest Haskell was an American artist and illustrator, internationally famous in his lifetime and remembered for his etchings, as well as engravings, pen-and-ink drawings, lithographs and watercolors. He was a pioneer in the field of theatrical posters. He created many portraits and caricatures of luminaries of the day. During World War I he was commissioned by the United States Army to develop camouflage painting. Haskell's etchings and intaglio prints are considered by critics and scholars to be his most important contribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charleston Renaissance</span> Period between World Wars I and II

The Charleston Renaissance is a period between World Wars I and II in which the city of Charleston, South Carolina, experienced a boom in the arts as artists, writers, architects, and historical preservationists came together to improve and represent their city. The Charleston Renaissance was related to the larger interwar artistic movement known as the Southern Renaissance and is credited with helping to spur the city's tourist industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blanche McVeigh</span> American printmaker (1895–1970)

Blanche McVeigh was an American printmaker, founder of the Fort Worth School of Fine Arts and Fort Worth Artists Guild, and art educator in Fort Worth, Texas. Known for her mastery of the aquatint medium, McVeigh’s leadership in art education influenced a generation of local artists, particularly members of the group known as the Fort Worth Circle. Her work is represented in several national collections as well as local and private collections.

Kathrin Cawein (1895–1996) was an American printmaker known for her etchings. Her style was realist and her subjects were mainly landscapes and interiors. Early in her career, her work received praise from one critic for its "adroit handling of color and good drawing — a technique that seems to express personal engaging conceptions." Critics also considered her prints to be "striking" and having a "high level of workmanship."

Roselle Osk (1884–1954) was an American printmaker known for her drypoints and etchings. Her style was realist and her subjects were figure studies, landscapes, and seascapes. She exhibited frequently during the 1930s and 1940s and was awarded prizes by the Society of American Etchers, Philadelphia Print Club, and National Association of Women Artists. Her work was often selected for "Best Prints of the Year" shows held by the etchers group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edith Loring Getchell</span> American artist

Edith Loring Getchell was an American landscape painter and etcher, highly regarded for the "exquisite" tonalism of her etchings, drypoints and watercolors." Working during the "American Etching Revival," a period that lent legitimacy to an art form that had once been scorned as commercial, Getchell made use of the opportunities the vogue for etching gave her, despite a crowded field and the gender discrimination of her era. Considered one of America's leading etchers in her lifetime, Getchell's work is notable for its skill, its aesthetic values and its approach to depicting American landscape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prairie Print Makers</span> American Printmaking Society

The Prairie Print Makers was a society of print artists and collectors headquartered in Wichita Kansas and active from 1930 to 1966. Formed by a group of Kansas artists, its objective was "to further the interest of both artists and laymen in printmaking and collecting". Membership was by invitation only and consisted of active artists who paid only $1 per year, and associates who paid $5 per year. A third category of free honorary membership was conferred by the governing board to those who contributed to the cause of print making and collecting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl Horter</span> American painter

Earl Horter was an American painter, illustrator, printmaker, teacher and art collector. He was instrumental in introducing modern art to Philadelphia as both an artist and collector of Cubist and abstract art. During the 1920s, he had one of the largest collections of modern art in the United States, and he was among the most prominent etchers of his generation.

Mary Teichman is an American artist and printmaker known for her color aquatint etchings.

References

  1. Dr. Glenn F. Benge, "Hands On, An Exhibition of Hand-Pulled, Non-Digital Prints" Archived 2013-01-29 at the Wayback Machine Journal of the Print World, (April 2012): 26-27.
  2. 1 2 American print clubs
  3. Evan Lindquist, “The SAGA Website,” SAGAzine (Winter 2004).
  4. Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Society of Etchers: Annual Exhibition 03rd
  5. "Brooklyn Society of Etchers 3rd Annual Exhibition." Brooklyn Museum. 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238. January 1919.