Multiplicity

Media - 2000.53 - SAAM-2000.53_1 - 13628

Chuck Close, Self Portrait, 2000, color screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum,Museum purchase 2000.53.

Multiplicity features 83 works from the museum’s permanent collection by such outstanding contemporary artists as John Baldessari, John Cage, Vija Celmins, Chuck Close, R. Luke DuBois, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Julie Mehretu, Martin Puryear, Susan Rothenberg, Kiki Smith, and Kara Walker. The concept of making multiple images from the same matrix has been integral to printmaking ever since the earliest prints were pulled from woodblocks and metal plates in the fifteenth century. Each impression is considered to be an original work of art.

Description

Many of the artists in this exhibition have expanded the idea of multiplicity beyond editions of identical impressions by creating series, sequences, and images that comprise numerous parts. They explore repetition, pairing, and variations on a theme as artistic strategies. Implicit in their exploration of multiplicity is a challenge to rarity and uniqueness as determinants of value.

This exhibition brings together a selection of prints by artists for whom the concept of multiplicity in its many forms provides a touchstone for their artistic expression. These prints are the result of collaboration between the artist and professional printers who help realize the artist’s vision. They question the authority of the unique masterpiece and alter the stereotype of the artist working alone in the studio.

Nearly half of the prints included in the exhibition are recent acquisitions. Joann Moser, senior curator, selected the works for display.

Visiting Information

November 11, 2011 March 11, 2012
Open Daily, 11:30 a.m.–7:00 p.m
Free Admission

Online Gallery

Media - 1998.57.2 - SAAM-1998.57.2_1 - 70207
Flesh, Armor
Date1986
color lithograph and screenprint on paper with handmade cast paper collage
Not on view
Media - 1991.94.2 - SAAM-1991.94.2_1 - 11233
Chamber
Date1985
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Media - 1993.31.1A-I - SAAM-1993.31.1A-I_1 - 77737
Black Dice
Date1982
color aquatint, photo etching, soft ground and lift ground on paper
Not on view
Media - 1992.94 - SAAM-1992.94_1 - 81696
Sunset Intersection
Date1983
color soft-ground etching on paper
Not on view
Media - 1999.40 - SAAM-1999.40_1 - 68809
Dobles
Date1994
lithograph and chine colle on paper
Not on view
Media - 1999.3 - SAAM-1999.3_1 - 69806
Just Because #2
Date1997
screenprint on paper
Not on view
Media - 1997.9 - SAAM-1997.9_1 - 64583
Ste. Sebastienne
Date1992
drypoint on paper
Not on view
Media - 1989.33 - SAAM-1989.33_1 - 81710
Father and Son
Date1986
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Media - 2004.32.5.1 - SAAM-2004.32.5.1_1 - 68841
Seven Day Diary (Not Knowing), Day One
Date1978
hard ground etching and drypoint
Not on view
Media - 2009.4.1 - SAAM-2009.4.1_1 - 70843
Night Sky
Date2005
screenprint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2009.4.2 - SAAM-2009.4.2_1 - 71012
Ocean Surface
Date2006
screenprint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2010.26 - SAAM-2010.26_1 - 74051
Illegal Alien’s Guide to the Concept of Relative Surplus…
Date2009
color lithograph on Amate paper
Not on view
Media - 2000.53 - SAAM-2000.53_1 - 13628
Self Portrait
Date2000
color screenprint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2004.22.2 - SAAM-2004.22.2_1 - 63221
Singing and Printing I
Date2001
unique monoprint woodcut, hand-painted in acrylic, on paper
Not on view
Media - 1999.28 - SAAM-1999.28_1 - 64361
Untitled
Date1998
aquatint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2010.3 - SAAM-2010.3_1 - 72411
Visitation
Date2004
color etching, aquatint, spit-bite and drypoint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2004.22.3 - SAAM-2004.22.3_1 - 63222
Tales of Genji VI
Date1998
color woodcut and stencil on paper
Not on view
Media - 2008.16 - SAAM-2008.16_1 - 68848
My Heavens!
Date2004
color lithograph with silver mylar and collage on Amate paper
Not on view
Media - 2000.107 - SAAM-2000.107_1 - 69807
Mint Boy
Date1998
color aquatint with spit-bite on paper
Not on view
Media - 2010.37.3 - SAAM-2010.37.3_1 - 74576
Almost There
Artist
Date1989
color aquatint and etching on paper
Not on view
Media - 2004.22.1 - SAAM-2004.22.1_1 - 64231
View of the Hotel Well, III, from the series Moving Focus
Date1984-1985
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Media - 2011.17 - SAAM-2011.17_1 - 76472
Red Celia, from the series Moving Focus
Date1984
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Untitled (We Will No Longer Be Seen and Not Heard)
Date1985
9 prints, photo-offset lithograph and screenprint
Not on view
Media - 2010.34.2 - SAAM-2010.34.2_1 - 73504
Wavy Brushstrokes Superimposed #2
Date1995
hand-drawn photo transfer with aquatint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2008.9.1 - SAAM-2008.9.1_1 - 70611
#1, from the Untitled Press Series
Date1972
lithograph on paper
Not on view
Media - 2006.23 - SAAM-2006.23_1 - 67812
Local Calm
Date2005
sugar lift aquatint with color aquatint and spit bite aquatint, soft and hard ground etching, and engraving on Gampi paper chine collé
Not on view
Media - 2009.6A-B - SAAM-2009.6A_1 - 70689
Untitled
Date2007
sugar lift etching on paper
Not on view
Media - 2011.34.7 - SAAM-2011.34.7_1 - 77016
#1
Date1986
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Media - 2009.15.1 - SAAM-2009.15.1_1 - 72287
Enough, from the New Orleans Series
Date2006
digital pigment print on paper
Not on view
Media - 1997.76.1 - SAAM-1997.76.1_1 - 69805
The Drum and the Dance
Date1996
mixed intaglio and lithograph on paper, with artist-designed custom frame
Not on view
Media - 2002.12.2.1 - SAAM-2002.12.2.1_1 - 72467
Karintha, from the portfolio Cane
Date2000
woodcut on paper
Not on view
Media - 2008.37.1.1 - SAAM-2008.37.1.1_1 - 70589
Representation of Chaos, from the portfolio The Creation
Date2004
screenprint with chine collé on paper
Not on view
Media - 1991.94.4 - SAAM-1991.94.4_1 - 11235
Mezzo Fist #1
Date1990
mezzotint and chine colle on paper
Not on view
Media - 2007.10.2 - SAAM-2007.10.2_1 - 67667
Mezzofist #2
Date1990
mezzotint with hand-coloring on paper
Not on view
Media - 1991.43.2 - SAAM-1991.43.2_1 - 64612
Western Vertical
Date1986
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Media - 1991.43.1 - SAAM-1991.43.1_1 - 64611
Western Horizontal
Date1986
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Media - 2005.18A-B - SAAM-2005.18A-B_1 - 70842
Cielo /​Tierra / Esperanza
Date1990
photolithograph with collograph and stenciled paper pulp on handmade paper
Not on view
Media - 2007.7.3 - SAAM-2007.7.3_1 - 74136
Grey Fold
Date2007
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Media - 2003.80.1 - SAAM-2003.80.1_1 - 70642
Savasan 10
Date1996
carborundum collagraph, siligraph, relief and aquatint on paper
Not on view
Media - 1988.51 - SAAM-1988.51_1 - 71005
Untitled
Date1988
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Media - 2004.6A-L - SAAM-2004.6A-L_1 - 75817
Banshee Pearls
Date1991
twelve lithographs with aluminum leaf additions on handmade Japanese paper
Not on view
Media - 2007.19 - SAAM-2007.19_1 - 70385
Land Origin
Date2005
screenprint on paper
Not on view
Media - 1992.25.1 - SAAM-1992.25.1_1 - 72281
Black Roses, Nov., 1989, from the suite Black Roses, Dec.,…
Date1989, published 1990
aquatint on paper
Not on view
Media - 2008.19.1.1 - SAAM-2008.19.1.1_1 - 70182
Alabama Loyalists Greeting the Federal Gun-Boats, from the…
Date2005
offset lithograph and screenprint on paper
Not on view
Media - 1992.68 - SAAM-1992.68_1 - 71008
Cicada
Date1992
screenprint
Not on view
Media - 1991.94.5 - SAAM-1991.94.5_1 - 88224
Novalis
Date1983-1989
color etching, aquatint and spit bite on paper
Not on view
Media - 1998.129 - SAAM-1998.129_1 - 70583
Rhizome
Date1998
linoleum cut on paper
Not on view

Artists

John Baldessari
born National City, CA 1931-died Los Angeles, CA 2020

John Baldessari was born in National City, on San Diego Bay in California in 1931. He enrolled at San Diego State College in 1949 and received his BA in painting in 1953. He also studied at Berkeley in 1953.

John Cage
born Los Angeles, CA 1912-died 1992
Vija Celmins
born Riga, Latvia 1939
Media - 2000.53 - SAAM-2000.53_1 - 13628
Chuck Close
born Monroe, WA 1940-died Oceanside, NY 2021

Chuck Close was born in Monroe, Washington, in 1940 and received a BA degree from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1962.

R. Luke DuBois
born Morristown, NJ 1975
Media - portrait_image_113298.jpg - 90214
Sol LeWitt
born Hartford, CT 1928-died New York City 2007

Sol LeWitt was a leader in the growth of conceptual art during the 1960s and 1970s. This was a reaction to the emotional qualities of abstract expressionism, and focused on the ideas behind the art as opposed to the actual objects.

Brice Marden
born Bronxville, NY 1938-died Tivoli, NY 2023
Julie Mehretu
born Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 1970
Martin Puryear
born Washington, DC 1941

One of the most important American sculptors working today, Martin Puryear (born 1941) is known for refined, handmade constructions, primarily in wood. Puryear's abstract forms, while evocative and familiar, elude specific or singular interpretations.

Susan Rothenberg
born Buffalo, NY 1945-died Galisteo, NM 2020
Kiki Smith
born Nuremberg, Germany 1954
Kara Walker
born Stockton, CA 1969