{"id":1233,"date":"2015-06-26T10:56:58","date_gmt":"2015-06-26T14:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/?page_id=1233"},"modified":"2022-03-17T16:54:58","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T20:54:58","slug":"mission-history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/mission-history\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission & History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our historic carriage house at 1614 Latimer Street, Philadelphia. Photo: Allison Guzy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Print Center, a nonprofit gallery located in Philadelphia\u2019s historic Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, encourages the growth and understanding of photography and printmaking as vital contemporary arts through exhibitions, publications and educational programs. The Print Center is an international voice in print; our global outlook coincides with a strong sense of local purpose. Recognized as a locally significant and internationally respected gallery, an art education provider and an artists\u2019 advocate, The Print Center is known for supporting emerging and established artists; developing unusual and intriguing programs that attract a diverse audience; and making art accessible to all members of the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Print Center has a strong history of welcoming artists, audiences and participants of diverse backgrounds, races, religions, sexual orientations, genders, and gender identities and\/or expressions. The Print Center values diversity in staffing, leadership, programming and the range of communities with which we engage. We are committed to the ongoing work of upholding these values and believe removing barriers to inclusion is critical to the future of our society. We support and seek to give voice and visibility to emerging and established artists of all races, ages, sexual orientations, genders and gender identities and\/or expressions. We welcome and encourage the participation of individuals of all backgrounds who are inspired by our shared purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n

Founded in 1915 as The Print Club, one of the first venues in this country dedicated to the appreciation of prints, the organization supported the \"dissemination, study, production, and collection of works by printmakers, American and foreign.\" In 1942, The Print Center donated its collection of prints to the Philadelphia Museum of Art forming the core of their fledgling print department.<\/span><\/p>\n

Past exhibitions have featured the work of masters like Albrecht D\u00fcrer, Mary Cassatt and Pablo Picasso, as well as American pioneers Ansel Adams, Walker Evans and Dox Thrash, and the work of the most compelling artists of their day including\u00a0Edna Andrade, Louise Bourgeois, John Coplans, Leon Golub, Emmet Gowin,\u00a0Red Grooms, Ann Hamilton, Jasper Johns, Kerry James Marshall, Abelardo Morell, Kiki Smith,\u00a0Nancy Spero, Art Spiegelman, Doug + Mike Starn and Kara Walker.<\/span><\/p>\n

From its founding, the organization built understanding and appreciation for marginalized media. Until the 1940\u2019s printmaking was not regarded with equal importance as painting and sculpture. Similarly, photography existed for almost 150 years before it was accepted as a fine art. First exhibited at The Print Center in the 1930\u2019s, our mission expanded to include photography in the 1960's. \u00a0In 1996, The Print Club changed its name to The Print Center to mark its commitment to serve both its members and the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Print Center programs have always been multidisciplinary and inclusive. In addition to exhibitions, a wide variety of activities have included monthly workshops with printmaking pioneer Stanley William Hayter\u00a0in the late 1940\u2019s \u2013 early 1950\u2019s; post-Friday afternoon orchestra matinee teas, replete with silver service and white gloves, for students and doyennes, hosted by Mrs. Benton Spruance in the 1960's; and even a drive during World War II led by our long-time Director Ms. Berthe von Moschzisker encouraging etchers to donate their copper plates to support the war effort. Until the 1970's we had a variety of presses on premises, including a lithography studio in what is now the Gallery Store.<\/span><\/p>\n

Today The Print Center programs include solo and group exhibitions; the ANNUAL International Competition,<\/em>\u00a0one of the most prestigious and oldest juried exhibitions in the US; The Print Center Series, compelling programs surrounding the printed image in contemporary art; the Artists-in-Schools Program, a nationally recognized program bringing art education and awareness to underserved youth in Philadelphia public high schools since 2002; The Print Center publications; and the Gallery Store, offering the largest selection of contemporary prints and photographs available for sale in Philadelphia.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Print Center, a nonprofit gallery located in Philadelphia\u2019s historic Rittenhouse Square neighborhood, encourages the growth and understanding of photography and printmaking as vital contemporary arts through exhibitions, publications and educational programs. The Print Center is an international voice in … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-fullwidth.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1233","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1233\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1587,"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1233\/revisions\/1587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/printcenter.org\/100\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}