This selection of prints, created between 1970 and 1990 by nationally and internationally recognized contemporary artists, reflects two transformative decades in contemporary printmaking. Drawn from a larger selection of works transferred to the Dennos Museum Center from the Denison Museum in Granville, Ohio, these prints highlight the range and experimentation that defined late twentieth-century printmaking.
Artists such as Dee Shapiro and Barbara Kohl-Spiro explored abstraction, pattern, and perception with quilt-like imagery and rhythmic color, while KUDO Muramasa brought a more atmospheric and expressive perspective to their work. In Take the A Train to Harlem, James Rizzi infused the print medium with playful urban energy and a distinctly pop sensibility. Together, the artists in this collection pushed the limits of process and color, transforming printmaking into a medium of bold innovation and accessibility, and capturing a moment when contemporary art was expanding beyond the studio and gallery walls—reaching new audiences and reshaping the language of visual communications.
Image (detail): James Rizzi, Take the A Train to Harlem. 1989, Lithograph. From the Collection of the Dennos Museum Center.
