Manuel Rodriguez, Sr.: Father of Contemporary Philippine Printmaking

Manuel Rodriguez, Sr, a.k.a. Mang Maning,  is a pioneer in the Philippines’ graphic arts movement. He turned 100 last year and continues to make art and spread the word about what has become his true passion – printmaking. Rodriguez said, “I have to fulfill something but I don’t know what, but I think I will just continue, then I will know when it’s time to go.”

Rodriguez was born in Cibu in 1912. His father was an engraver and goldsmith for liturgical vestments and church ornaments. Rodriguez left Cibu in 1935 and moved to Manila to attend the University of the Philippines School of Fine Arts, where he was mentored by Philippine artists Toribio Herrera, Fernando and Pablo Amorsolo, Fabian de la Rosa, and Ramon Peralta.

In the 1930s Rodriguez was first introduced to the art of printmaking and in 1948 he spent a lot of his time reproducing his paintings via screen printing methods. Rodriguez began to really experiment with printmaking in the 1950s, making greeting cards of rural Philippine life.

He left the Philippines in the 1960s for New York to pursue a Rockefeller printmaking scholarship at the prestigious Pratt Graphic Center. It was during 1960-62 that Rodriguez worked in the print department of the Museum of Modern Art, after which he repeatedly visited the famed Atelier 17 in Paris, run by British artist and teacher Stanley William Hayter. Here he met with other printmakers Mauricio Lasansky, Gabor Peterdi, and Michael Ponce de Leon and his works developed into an abstract imagery which defined his particular style.

When Rodriguez returned to his native country, he taught and established printmaking departments at UST and PWU, where he brought with him all the knowledge he’d learned from the US; teaching younger artists about printmaking and spreading the word and interest in it so much that it grew to become popular at a time when experts thought printmaking was a ‘dead art’. In 1962, he opened the Contemporary Arts Gallery for graphic artists and sold his students’ work. Printmaking changed the course of his career, and his influence was felt mostly between the 1950s to the 1970s.

Eventually, Rodriguez moved back to the United States in the 1970s and settled in New York. His enthusiasm for printmaking has known no bounds. He continues to teach and give workshops.  He says, “First, I learned what is art and then I learned what is printmaking, so I want in my life to fulfill the purpose, to explain, or to teach, everyone or to start a school where you can learn what is art.” We can only hope the enthusiasm he has felt continues to inspire young artists everywhere…..

Honors and Awards:

Founder of “Interarts” multi-media foundation for the arts

Founder of the Philippine Association of Printmakers

1st Filipino artist and printmaker to represent the Philippines in International biennial exhibitions.

2007 - Presidential Merit Award, for his contribution to the visual arts

1991 - University of the Philippines Alumni Association of New York Achievement Award

1988 - Bruna P. Seril Advancement of Philippine Cultural Award

1979 - Patnubay ng Kalinangan Award

1975 - Lingkod Bayan Award

1967 - National Heritage Award, the Philippines

1963 - Honorary Professorship, University of Florence, Italy

Selected Exhibitions:

1983 - the Museum of Philippine Art, Manila, Ph

1968 - Pacific Culture Museum, Pasadena, CA

1977 - the Milwaukee Public Library, WI

1964 - Sao Paolo Biennale, Brazil  

1965 - Indian Triennale, New Delhi

1965 - Tokyo Biennale, Japan

1968 & ’69 - Yugoslavia Biennale

1981 - Intl Media Studies Foundation, NY

1982 - World Bank, Washington, DC

1962 - Best Graphic Art award, AAP

Education:

1939       BFA, University of the Philippines, Manila, Ph.

1940-41 Architecture studies, Mapua University, Ph.

1945-46 Architectural Draughtsman Certificate.

               Central Institute of Technology Foundation, Manila, Ph.  

1960-62 Rockefeller Scholarship – printmaking. Pratt Graphic Center, NY

Mauricio Lasansky 1914-2012, Beloved Patriarch of American Printmaking

Sometimes, if we're lucky, we encounter an artist who reminds us of things outside the scope of our everyday lives. Sometimes its their work, or its their life as an artist that makes us catch our breath and we are surprised, shocked or stupefied into awe at what they say with their work, and how they do what they do. Such is the man, artist and teacher known as Mauricio Lasansky.

Before I embark upon the biography of this amazing man, I want to relate some thoughts. I will confess that I dreaded the day would come when the famed and highly esteemed printmaker/teacher Mauricio Lasansky would leave this world for a better place. I mourned his passing as though my own grandfather had died, because I felt in fact he was my artistic and spiritual ancestor. At least, that's what I came to feel having studied with one of his students, Robert Wolfe, at Miami University(OH). 

Wolfe's stories of having studied at the US printmaking mecca in the 1950s was all about teaching us 'print newbies' the history of this medium and the noble merits of one's blood, sweat and toil on a piece of  metal plate; to create a message that will burn itself into the viewer's memory, or at least tell a story. One of his first year graduate student tales related to one's fear of the initial mark, diving into the abyss not knowing what the image will be but going at it headlong with no restraint. He told us that all first year graduate students had to first do a self-portrait engraving on a full sheet of copper. After they completed that phase of the project,  they were told to completely scrape down the image as though it never existed. Wolfe always brought out examples of that first endeavor for us to admire,  then he carefully taught us how to use the tools to make our own self-portrait engraving. One felt the meticulousness of his[Wolfe's] teaching method was handed down from the Master, and we all aspired to do well with our own project. It was inherently understood that not only our professor, but Lasansky himself was watching what we were doing. I digress, but I think you understand, that was the way it was done, and the Only way it should be done. The connection to him, albeit through his students, was so strong that we felt as though we were taught by Lasansky himself. One can see it is a great testament to his influence and contributions to the medium. Now for the real article....

Mauricio Leib Lasansky (1914-2012) was an Argentine-American graphic artist and printmaker. He chose to focus his artistic energies on the development of printmaking and drawing, thus making him one of a few Modern era artists to do so. The result is a life full of experimentation and dedication to his craft. Lasansky is widely considered to be one of the pioneers in the graphic arts evolution and making the art world look at the medium as critically as any other field. He will forever be enshrined as one of the first and best generations of artists who have defined and guided printmaking in the United States. He is revered as one of the true "Fathers of 20th Century American Printmaking."

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lasansky’s  parents were Eastern European Jews; his Lithuanian-born father, who had made his way to Argentina via North America, had worked as a printer and engraver at the US Mint in Philadelphia. As a talented and ambitious young man of 22, Lasansky became Director of the Free Fine Arts School, in Villa Maria, Cordoba, Argentina. Six years later, he was honored with the first of five highly coveted Guggenheim Fellowships, and he went to the United States to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to study their print collection, which numbers well over 100,000! While there, he learned the history of printmaking and networked with other artists who had also moved to the states. 

After Mauricio married Emilia Barragan in 1937, he began to exhibit his work, regularly winning awards and prizes, and  in the 1940s he and many other artists began to work in printmaking through the WPA graphic arts workshops. Several printmaking studios were established and Lasansky chose to work at the famous Atelier 17, which was established by British artist Stanley William Hayter. Atelier 17 was the first independent American workshop devoted to the Intaglio printmaking process and it developed an international reputation. The artists from this era , like Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, who also worked at Atelier 17, are now referred to as the New York School and their Abstract Expressionist method of working changed intaglio printmaking in America. Many of these artists’ experiments in intaglio printmaking lead to them being invited to organize printmaking departments in universities all across the country.

In 1945, Lasansky was invited to direct and teach the printmaking program at the University of Iowa, in Iowa City, IA. The program became one of the premiere places to study printmaking in the US, producing hundred and hundreds of artists/teachers. At the time of his death, Lasansky was recognized as the Virgil M. Hancher Professor Emeritus, head of Printmaking in the School of Art and Art History, where he had taught for more than forty years.

 Many of Lasansky's former students went on to teach at reputable universities to spread the word about printmaking. Some of those former students include Keith Achepohl, Glen Alps, Lee Chesney, David Driesbach, John Ilhe, John Paul Jones, and Robert Wolfe.  The passing of the printmaking torch from generations of teachers to students is what marks the legacy of Atelier 17, Hayter and Lasansky.  

Lasansky’s art is known for his large scale prints (some being four by eight feet in length), utilizing multiple plates (up to 60) and in full color. He even designed a specially-milled French paper for his prints so they would withstand a large amount of printing which often combined etching, drypoint, aquatint and engraving intaglio techniques. Throughout his career, he preferred figurative subjects, seeing them as important as the technical side of his work.

Lasansky is internationally known for a series that marked a departure from his beloved intaglio method, The Nazi Drawings, This series speaks in a most raw and scathing manner about the brutality of Nazi Germany upon its victims. He worked six years on the project, which consists of thirty individual life-sized pieces and one triptych. Their effect upon the viewer is shock and horror. His figures are like ghosts passing through Hell, and he shows them living through their fears in a nightmare that disgustingly was real.  Surprisingly, the drawings were created primarily with lead pencil on common commercial paper. "I wanted them to be done with a tool used by everyone everywhere. From the cradle to the grave, meaning the pencil." And speaking of his inspiration, he said…“The Hitler years were in my belly, and I tried many times to do the drawings,” he said. “But then I decided, the hell with it. Why don’t I just put down what I feel? The fact is that people were killed — how cool can you play that?” The Nazi Drawings was one of the first exhibits ever shown at the  Whitney Museum of American Art and have been exhibited in many prominent art museums. They can now be seen at University of Iowa Museum of Art.

In closing, Mauricio Lasansky created some of the most powerful images in contemporary art. He has contributed significantly to printmaking being considered a critical and serious art form of the 20th century and for that our [printmakers] debt to his commitment cannot be repaid.

Awards and Honors:

*Five Guggenheim Fellowships!

*Six honorary Doctorate of Arts degrees

*His work is represented in more than one hundred public collections including virtually EVERY major museum in the United States i.e. the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC., the Art Institute of Chicago  and the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

*Internationally recognized, he has been exhibited throughout North and South America, Europe and Russia.

*Became a US citizen in 1952

Irving Amen, The Intellectual's Print Master

Irving Amen, (1918-2011) influential printmaker, painter and sculptor, was born in New York City. He began to draw at the age of four, and at fourteen he earned a scholarship to study at the Pratt Institute, 1932-1939. During this period, he was inspired by the drawings of Michelangelo, and copiously studied his technique to perfect his own draftsmanship. He later studied at New York’s Art Students League, and the L’Academie Grande Chaumiere in Paris. 

From 1942 to 1945 Amen served in the military during World War II, and did some mural work in Belgium and the Unites states during that period. After his service he returned to New York where he developed his craft in printmaking and painting. He worked primarily in relief and intaglio, often depicting themes of chess(and quite a nice series of them, too), portraits, music, Judaism and the story of Don Quixote.

Amen’s first print exhibition was at the New School for Social Research,  and in 1949 he had a solo exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution. Later notable exhibitions included the Artists House in Jerusalem, the Library of Congress and the National Academy of Design.

 Amen traveled to Italy in 1953 where he produced a large series of eleven woodcuts, eight etchings and a number of oil paintings. Note* “Piazza San Marco #4” and its four woodblocks, produced during this trip, are part of a Smithsonian Institution permanent exhibit on color block printing.

In the 1960s, Amen taught at the Pratt Institute and was a much beloved Instructor of Art at the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana despite not having a degree. His travels in Israel, Greece and Turkey in 1960 also led to a retrospective show in Jerusalem. And in 1974, he was commissioned to illustrate The Epic of Gilgamesh in woodcuts, for the Limited Editions Club.

In his later years, Amen moved to Boca Raton, Florida where he lived and worked until Alzheimers’ affected his memory and he stopped teaching.

Amen’s style is largely reminiscent of the angular line and shapes found in German Expressionism artists like Karl Schmidt-Rotloff, Erich Heckel, and Max Pechstein, and the fractured Cubist-inspired works of Mauricio Lasansky and Robert Delaunay. His explorations in vibrant, expressive colors reflect an exuberance often found with Stanley William Hayter’s work whereas Amen’s works on religious and Jewish themes have a somewhat somber tone. Overall, his work speaks to the wonder and breadth of life, hope and intellect.

Amen’s work is included numerous major collections, including the following: United States The Art Museum of Princeton The Boston Museum of Fine Arts The Butler Institute The City of Philadelphia Public Library The Corcoran Gallery Dartmouth College The Fogg Art Museum The Jewish Museum, New York The Judah L. Magnes Memorial Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Museum of Modern Art The New York Public Library The Philadelphia Museum of Art The Smithsonian Institution The University of Notre Dame Yale University Museum of Art International The Albertina Museum, Vienna The Auckland City Art Gallery, New Zealand The Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem The Biblioteque Nationale, Paris The Biblioteque Royal, Brussels The Statische Museum, Germany  The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Affiliations:
Society of American Graphic Artists

International Society of Wood Engravers

Audubon Artists

Commissions:

Peace Medal in honor of the Vietnam War

12 stained glass windows for the Agudas Achim Synagogue in Bexley, OH

Illustrations for The Epic of Gilgamesh, Limited Editions Club, 1974

Honors:

Mantle Fielding Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors and Engravers

Dictionary of Contemporary American Artists by Paul Cummings

 Portrait of Irving Amen

Gabor Peterdi's Call to Nature

Hungarian born Gabor Peterdi (1915-2001) has been known to thousands of printmakers, and is widely considered one of the great innovators of the print medium in the 20thc. Born in Pestujhely, Peterdi's parent sent him to study art at the Hungarian Academy of Fine Arts at the age of 15. He won a Prix de Rome and studied there a year before heading to Paris and studying at the Academie Julian. He then spent six years studying engraving with the American-born master printmaker Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 before emigrating to New York City in 1939.

Once Peterdi came to the US, he served in the Army in Europe during World War II, and then came back to New York work with Hayter, who had since moved there. He went on to teach at the Honolulu Academy of Art, the Brooklyn Museum School of Art,  Hunter College, and at the prestigious Yale School of Art. His book on printmaking, ''Printmaking: Methods Old and New,'' has been used worldwide as  the definitive textbook for printmaking courses. 

Although Peterdi was in New York when Abstract Expressionism reigned supreme, he chose to emphasize his love for nature.The majority of his work is abstracted, but his themes revolve around  man, nature and their interrelationships. This particular group of images selected for this article speak to his interest in natural forms, and the coloration reminds one of flowers,birds, bushes and an infusion of light streaming through trees. The image above calls to some horizon where the sun never stops shining,while the last image can be seen as a stalk or stem, or even an abstracted vertebrae of some animal. The areas sourrounding it resemble sediment and excavations of things found when we start to garden; finding the treasured remnants of bones our dogs hope to keep for an afternoon of blissful gnawing. There is a form of abstracted pictographic language going on here; and it's one that if you weren't educated to know it's signs or symbols it wouldn't keep you from enjoying the images that he's placed together. There is synaptic energy going on here, and the viewer's eye moves easily throughout.

While I have certainly known of Peterdi's reputation as a great teacher,  I have not seen or really known much about his work. My understanding of him, being from the Midwest and exposed indirectly to the University of Iowa influence of Mauricio Lasansky, was that his friendly Picasso/Matisse-like rivalry with Lasansky helped to establish two major printmaking programs in this country; both of which have trained scores of printmakers, teachers, curator, historians and gallerists. Their collective influence has been felt far and wide, not just in this the United States, but also having  trained many printmakers worldwide. Peterdi is one of  Printmaking's Elite, and the impact of him as a person, teacher and his work will continue to be felt for a very long time.