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THE COMPLETE
GUIDE TO
LIMITED EDITION ART PRINTS
How to Identify, Invest & Care for Your Collection
by: Jay Brown |
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CHAPTER 1
- THE OFFSET LITHOGRAPH - PAST AND FUTURE |
In the Beginning There Was Traditional
Lithography
In the early 1800’s, a printing method was
developed that did not rely on raised sections as it did with the etchings and
other intaglio prints that were dependent on the cutting, carving or engraving
of plates. The premise was based on the simple concept that grease and water do
not mix. This was the beginning of the lithographic process, though it had yet
to be mechanized.
It’s unknown who the first artist was to use the
process for the printing of fine art, though the familiar names Currier and Ives
were definitely at the forefront of the movement. In the early 1800’s they made
one-color (black-on-white) prints and then hand-colored them to bring them to
life.
The process continued to evolve, establishing ways to
add more than one color, until shortly after World War II when mechanization was
added and it became the preferred method for magazines, newspapers and various
four-color printed items. Using this method, printing became much cheaper, and
by the late 1950’s and early 1960’s it was the only method used for these
purposes.
When Frame House Gallery founder Wood Hannah started
publishing fine art prints in the early 1960’s using this method, he brought the
limited edition concept to the movement. Shortly thereafter, the standard for
offset prints climbed from four-color prints to today’s typical fine art
reproductions that can use eight or 10 colors.
The Founding Father of the Offset Art Print
The founding father of the limited edition
print world was Wood Hannah (1904-1989) from Louisville, Ky. Hannah was a
promoter, an astute businessman, venture capitalist, car dealer and all-around
entrepreneur. In 1961, he discovered the original artwork of wildlife artist Ray
Harm and together they devised the concept of duplicating the paintings as
limited edition fine art reproductions.
Initially, Hannah started a company called Ray Harm
Wildlife Art. In 1964, they issued their first signed and numbered limited
edition print: Ray Harm’s “Eagle and Osprey.” By 1967, the company had obtained
a Louisville art gallery and by 1969 they had changed their name from Ray Harm
Wildlife Art to Frame House Gallery. Soon they started adding other artists —
Guy Coheleach, Ann Ophelia Dowden, Don Eckelberry, Charles Frace and Charles
Harper. The first full-fledged publishing company dedicated to offset art
reproductions was born. For the next few years, Frame House Gallery
single-handedly controlled the market until their success spawned other
publishers — The Greenwich Workshop in 1972 and Mill Pond Press in 1973.
Interestingly, the first edition sizes were very large,
averaging about 5,000 prints per run. But, the prices were incredibly low, with
many prints issued for only $10 or $20.
Besides being the shrewd businessman, Hannah was also
the forerunner of the concept of using wildlife art to benefit the environment.
Proceeds from the sale of selected Frame House Gallery prints went to such
organizations as The National Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy.
By late 1970, after establishing the market for limited
edition fine art offset prints, Hannah sold the company for 7.5 million to the
Leo Burnett Agency of Chicago, but the company was never the same. Hannah’s
magnetic personality, generosity, salesmanship, and business acumen could not be
matched. Eventually, the company was sold to the Galaxy Group of Houston, Texas,
and made part of what is now known as Somerset House Publishing.
Three of the original group of six artists, Guy
Coheleach (Mill Pond Press), Charles Frace (Somerset House Publishing) and
Charles Harper (self-published), are still active leaders in the world of offset
art. Wood Hannah was a man of incredible vision, but he never could have
anticipated that today over $600 billion of limited edition fine art offset
lithographic prints are reportedly circulating in today’s marketplace.
(Special thanks to Ray Harm, David J. Wagner and The Filson Club History
Quarterly for information that helped with this section.)
Collectibility and the Wildlife Art
Movement
Wildlife art was at the forefront of the
development of collectible offset lithographic art. When Frame House Gallery,
originally based in Louisville, Ky., was founded in the early 1960’s, it became
the first major art publisher focused on the concept of producing limited
editions using the offset lithographic process. And, its primary subject was
wildlife. Of its original six artists, five were wildlife artists.
But, wildlife art prints did not begin in the 1960’s.
The 1960’s was merely the time when people had the idea to produce works as
limited editions. Wildlife prints have been around for hundreds of years. Many
people would recognize the name of famed ornithologist John James Audubon. His
wildlife works were first produced in the mid-1820’s, but wildlife art prints
were produced as far back as the 17th century.
Perhaps the use of wildlife art imagery was pure
coincidence when Wood Hannah conceptualized bringing collectibility to the
offset lithographic art market. Perhaps he saw the burgeoning of our nation’s
cities and the loss of our woodlands and wetlands in combination with the fears
our nation felt about driving some of our most prized animals — pandas,
gorillas, rhinos and tigers — to extinction. Perhaps he knew that our country
was on the verge of becoming a land of conservationists and environmentalists.
But, regardless of whether Hannah had a plan and a vision for wildlife art or
not, the feeling of the need to preserve has no doubt helped the wildlife art
movement to grow and survive.
Wildlife art remained at the forefront of the offset
lithographic art world as Frame House Gallery thrived and grew. But, it also
spawned competition. In 1970, Wild Wings, a Minnesota based wildlife art
publisher, was founded. And, in 1972, The Greenwich Workshop based in
Connecticut followed in their footsteps and established a large-scale publishing
house dedicated to offset lithographic prints. The Greenwich Workshop’s
concentration was also on wildlife and Western art as well. Their initial group
of artists –Peter Parnall, Frank McCarthy and J. Fenwick Lansdowne were all
wildlife and Western painters.
And again a year later in 1973, when Mill Pond Press
entered the marketplace and set up their publishing house in Florida, they
focused tremendously on wildlife art by enlisting the help of the top wildlife
artists of our time: Maynard Reece (five-time winner of the Federal Duck Stamp);
Roger Tory Peterson (famed ornithologist, author and illustrator of The Field
Guide to the Birds); and Robert Bateman (the foremost painter of the natural
world today).
Within a few years, The Greenwich Workshop, Mill Pond
Press and Frame House Gallery all simultaneously recognized that there was a lot
more to the offset lithograph than just wildlife reproductions. Other genres,
like landscape, floral, maritime and fantasy art began to develop. But wildlife
art remained at the forefront of the collectible end of the offset lithographic
art industry and it still does.
Trend: Art Continues to Gain Popularity
The days of abstraction and free money are
passé. The American art trend of today is realism, price awareness, decoration
and quality. The offset lithographic reproduction can provide them all.
Today’s art collectors are more interested in subjects
that look like something tangible, something that they can relate to — a
portrait of idyllic family life, a romantic landscape portraying a cabin or a
cottage, or a whimsical interpretation of a humorous or thought-provoking idea.
The offset is the best method to replicate the desired art subjects of today.
And then there’s price. Aren’t we all a little more
price-conscious today than we were just a decade ago? It costs so much more to
put the kids through school and provide for our own retirement. Today we have to
be completely aware of every penny that we spend. The offset is the most
reasonably priced printmaking method and that translates into the most
cost-effective art form for today’s collector.
Collectors also choose offset lithographs for the
simple reason that they wish to decorate their homes or workplaces. Unless
you’re a multi-zillionaire without a care in the world, you probably select art
that you think will brighten a special room in your home or make your day at the
office a little more satisfying. With the wide variety of art subjects available
today, there’s something for everyone. If your interest is wild animals,
romantic portraits, pastel-colored landscapes or even contemporary abstracts,
the offset has art for you.
The other item that drives the trend toward offset
reproductions is the quality. With the advances in printmaking technology an
original work of art can now be nearly duplicated. In some cases, by reproducing
the art onto canvas and adding brushstrokes and highlights, only the most
advanced collector can tell the difference between the print and the original.
Over the past quarter of a century a major thrust for
offset lithographic acceptance has been heightened by the addition of more and
more quality artists, galleries, publishers and most of all collectors into the
marketplace. As the market gains more supporters, it continues to snowball in
popularity. The offset is not a fad. It is the wave of the future.
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