Historical Timeline

The Print Center’s first 100 years were marked by an abundance of important milestones, both for the organization and for the fields that we serve: printmaking and photography. This Timeline offers a chronological look at all the important episodes of our history, culled from our institutional Archives (housed at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania), and from the memories of the artists, members, staff and many others that have shared our history.

The Timeline, launched to celebrate our Centennial, is an ongoing effort – designed to grow and deepen over time. We make regular additions to its content – if you have a suggestion for an addition, please share it with us. And check back often as the Timeline is updated frequently!

  • The Print Center was Founded

    Originally founded as “The Print Club” by a group of Philadelphia collectors, The Print Center was established as an “association for the dissemination, study, production and collection of works by printmakers, American and foreign.”

  • Leopold Stokowski Letter

    Leopold Anthony Stokowski (1882 – 1977), the renowned conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, was an early patron of The Print Center. In this letter from 1916, he apologies to Judge Jasper Brinton, one of the founders of the organization, for his delay remitting $38 for a group of acquired etchings. From its founding, The Print…

  • A Permanent Home

    Since 1918, The Print Center has been located at 1614 Latimer Street, in an old carriage house in Philadelphia’s historic Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. The organization purchased the building in 1927 and has made many renovations over the years, including enclosing a section of the garden in the 1960’s.   Illustrations from A History of the Philadelphia…

  • Annual International Competition

    The Print Center’s Annual International Competition is one of the oldest competitions of its kind. The first Annual Exhibition of American Etchers was held in 1924 and subsequent competitions in the early years focused on other print processes, including block printing and lithography. The competition is now open to all artists using photography and/or printmaking as critical components…

  • Mrs. Andrew Wright Crawford: Our First Director

      In 1925, Mrs. Crawford was appointed the first Director. Earlier, the organization had been led by the efforts of Mrs. Laurence Eyre, the first President, Executive Secretary Mrs. Elizabeth Forbes Dallam, and her assistant, Miss Flora Lash.  

  • Brooklyn Museum of Art, Exhibition Exchange

    The Print Center has organized dozens of traveling exhibitions that have visited organizations throughout both the region and the world. In our early history, we had a particularly close relationship with the Brooklyn Museum of Art. At least a dozen exhibitions traveled from The Print Center to the Brooklyn Museum of Art in the 1920s…

  • A History of The Philadelphia Print Club

    In 1929 we published A History of The Philadelphia Print Club. The book is authored by Dorothy Grafly, who had a long career as an art journalist, including as a columnist for The Philadephia Inquirer. Engraved and printed by The Beck Engraving Co., the charming book chronicles the organization’s early years.

  • First Photography Exhibit

    In its early years, The Print Center exhibited artworks in a wide variety of media. The earliest photography exhibit was offered in 1933,  entitled Colored Photographic Reproduction. In 1958, the second show dedicated to photography was mounted: John Reed, Photographs.

  • WPA’s Philadelphia Fine Print Workshop

    During the New Deal era, the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project (WPA/FAP) engaged over 10,000 artists in communities across the US. In Philadelphia, a Fine Print Workshop was established in the same building where a WPA/FAP Poster Workshop was housed. The Fine Print Workshop quickly distinguished itself for its openness to both technical experimentation…

  • Carl Zigrosser, Print Curator

    In 1941 Carl Zigrosser was appointed as the first Curator of Prints, Drawings and Rare Books at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a position he held until 1963. Under Zigrosser’s direction, the collection grew dramatically and came to include a number of important gifts ranging from a group of Watteau engravings from Lessing J. Rosenwald…

  • WWII Copper Plate Drive

    The Print Center participated in many activities in support of the war effort and our troops. This included a drive to collect copper etching and engraving plates to be melted down. An article from that time noted that the “donations represent a real patriotic gesture on the part of many artists, who are turning in…

  • Berthe von Moschzisker: Our Second Director

    In 1944, Berthe von Moschzisker, daughter of one of The Print Center’s founding members, was appointed the second Director of The Print Center, a position she held for the next 25 years. Her tenure was notable for many reasons, including her embrace of modernism and her introduction of printed works by important European artists to an American…

  • Stanley William Hayter and the Artist’s Workshop

    In 1945 The Print Center sent out a letter announcing a new initiative: The Artist’s Workshop. “This is not to be class or school,” the letter reads, “but to be for artists who are interested in technical research in graphic materials.” Over the next seven years, the British artist Stanley William Hayter (1901 – 1988)…

  • Tea at The Print Center

    The Print Center was founded as a club, much like its sister organizations The Philadelphia Sketch Club and The Plastic Club. In addition to offering exhibitions, the organization served a social function and was well-known for its afternoon teas, served on silver service, which followed the Philadelphia Orchestra Friday matinee performances.  These afternoons included students…

  • Lessing J. Rosenwald, Print Collector

    Lessing J. Rosenwald (1891 – 1979), the celebrated collector, had a life-long passion for prints and drawings from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century. Over time, he gave over 20,000 prints and drawings to the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Rosenwald, whose home, Alverthorpe Manor, is now the Abington Arts Center,…

  • Ford Foundation Funds Building Expansion

    The Ford Foundation provided support for a building expansion which enclosed most of the original garden, expanded the facility on the first floor and provided an second exhibition gallery on the second floor.

  • Prints in Progress

    In 1960 Prints in Progress, a program to bring together practicing artists and children through printmaking, was launched by Board member Walther “Billy” Wolf. Prints in Progress was always taught by artists, and began with a portable press that visited area schools.  Directed by Marion “Kippy” Boulton Stroud and funded by a prestigious grant from the…

  • The Print Center Edition: Benton Spruance

    Benton Spruance (1904 – 1967) was a very significant member of The Print Center’s community.  His prints have been included in over 75 exhibitions at The Print Center, including five solo shows. Spruance, who was born in Philadelphia, was a long-term faculty member at Beaver College, Glenside, PA (now Arcadia University), as well as Chairman…

  • Robert Grigor-Taylor: Our Third Director

    Grigor-Taylor was the Director from 1969-1973. Grigor-Taylor introduced artists from California and England who were unknown on the east coast. In 1971 he presented a solo exhibition of R. B. Kitaj’s complete graphic work (The Print Center purchased Photo-Eye, color silkscreen, 1970, for its permanent collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art), and in 1973…

  • The Print Center Edition: Samuel Maitin

    Sam Maitin (1928 – 2004) is one of the artists most closely associated with The Print Center. He was a celebrated printmaker whose work was included in at least 45 shows during his lifetime. Maitin took part in Stanley William Hayter’s monthly workshops at The Print Center in the 1940s and taught for Prints in…

  • The Print Center Embraced Photography

    The 1960s and 1970s was a time of transition in American art. Artists clamored for change, crossing boundaries previously drawn between art and popular culture. Photography played an active role in this period as artists who were not photographers, used the medium at the service of their ideas, while others addressed the nature of photographic…

  • Ansel Adams Retrospective – First Major Photography Exhibition

    Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984), the great master of landscape photography, exhibited at The Print Center in 1972. Planned to coincide with the artist’s seventieth birthday, Adams’ exhibition included 120 photographs and was the largest retrospective of his work to date. While photography had been included in shows at The Print Center as early as…

  • Brandywine Workshop, Lois Johnson

    The Brandywine Workshop was founded in 1972 by Philadelphia artist Allan Edmunds, in a space that was originally a Prints in Progress workshop. Since that time, the Brandywine Workshop has become an internationally recognized center for printmaking, in particular for its dedication to offset lithography. The Brandywine Workshop has worked with dozens of significant Philadelphia…

  • The Print Center Publication: Jerome Kaplan Prints

    Retrospective exhibition of prints by Philadelphia artist Jerome Kaplan with accompanying catalog. [note]George Bunker and Ruth Fine, Jerome Kaplan Prints (Philadelphia: The Print Club, 1973)[/note] Jerome Kaplan Prints, 1973 Texts by George Bunker and Ruth Fine Softcover, 10″ x 7″, 32 pages   See Timeline entry for 1994 Jerome Kaplan Graphic Works for more information and images.  …

  • Margo Devereux (later Dolan): Our Fourth Director

    Dolan was the Director from 1973 – 1978. In addition to mounting an impressive exhibition schedule, she focused efforts on strengthening membership, particularly by encouraging non-artists to join and by cultivating interactions between artists and collectors.  Exhibitions were as frequent as twice a month, accompanied by at least two related events every month, one for…

  • Phil Simkin, Move It or Lose It

    In 1975, as part of The Print Center’s 60th Anniversary, the Philadelphia artist Phil Simkin (1944 -2013) created a performative spectacle that generated so much attention and controversy that people are still talking about it. For Move It or Lose It, Simkin created a 60-foot moving clothesline on Latimer Street in front of The Print…

  • The Founding of The Photo Review

    The Photo Review, a quarterly journal, was founded in 1976 in Philadelphia by the writer and photographer Stephen Perloff. The beginnings of The Photo Review coincided with a cultural moment where interest in photography swelled as a critically important medium in contemporary art as well as a significant force in the art market. Since that…

  • The Fabric Workshop & Museum, Will Stokes Jr.

    The Fabric Workshop & Museum (FWM) was founded in 1977 by Marion “Kippy” Stroud (1939 – 2015) after she had spent many years as a Board member of The Print Center and the Artistic Director of Prints in Progress. While FWM has become internationally recognized for its ambitious commissions to many of today’s most significant…

  • Associated American Artists

    Since its founding, The Print Center has actively sold the work of exhibiting artists, considering the sale of work an important way to support artists and build collectors, as well as providing a source of revenue for the organization. In 1978, as part of a larger attack on the nonprofit art community, the Internal Revenue…

  • Ofelia Garcia: Our Fifth Director

    Ofelia Garcia was the Executive Director from 1978 to 1984. In 1978, The Print Center’s sixty year long practice of selling prints while having nonprofit status was scrutinized by the federal government. The Board of Governors decided to separate The Print Center’s educational and sales activities by inviting Associated American Artists (AAA) of New York, directed by Sylvan…

  • The Print Center Edition: 65th Anniversary marked with The Philadelphia Portfolio

    Published in partnership with the City of Philadelphia, The Philadelphia Portfolio was created in 1981 to commemorate the 65th Anniversary of the organization. An edition of 100, it includes works by Edna Andrade, John Dowell, Elizabeth Osborne and Peter Paone. The portfolios were given as diplomatic gifts by the City of Philadelphia. Edna Andrade, Celebrate the…

  • Jane Landis, Acting Director

    Jane Landis began working at The Print Center in May of 1984 as Assistant to the Director. In January of 1986, she became Acting Director when Ofelia Garcia departed for the Atlanta College of Art. She remained Acting Director until August of 1987, when Anne Schuster Hunter was appointed.

  • Anne Schuster Hunter: Our Sixth Director

    Anne Schuster Hunter directed The Print Center from 1987 to 1989. During her tenure she focused on returning The Print Center to its historical position as an organization encouraging printmaking and photography in all forms as exciting, adventurous, contemporary media. She and Hester Stinnett co-directed The Print Club Residency Series, inviting prominent artists to collaborate with Philadelphia…

  • The Print Center Residency Editions

    The Print Center Residency Series, co-directed by Anne Schuster Hunter and Hester Stinnett, operated between 1988 and 1991. Artists Robert Cumming, Lois Lane, Winifred Lutz and Art Spiegelman were invited to work with lithographic master printer Timothy Sheesley and Japanese ukiyo-e woodcut printer Shigemitsu Tsukaguchi, with whom they produced print editions. The Print Club Residency Program…

  • 25 x 25, A Portfolio Project

    25 x 25 was a series of printed portfolios published by The Print Center between 1989 and 1998. Any artist could submit a printed edition of 50 prints (each 25 x 25 centimeters) which were then collated by the participating artists. In the end, over three hundred locally and nationally known artists contributed to this…

  • Kathleen Edwards: Our Seventh Director

    Kathleen Edwards served as the Executive Director from 1989 until 1998. She set out to make the organization as well-known within the city as it was nationally and internationally. She recognized a national trend toward collaborative printmaking and a second wave of print shops opening across the country.  In response to this renaissance, The Print Center…

  • Robert Cornelius: Abandoned Shoes of Philadelphia

    In 1990, The Print Center organized an exhibition of works by the Philadelphia photographer Robert Cornelius entitled Abandoned Shoes of Philadelphia. Professor Cornelius is one of the founders of Pittsburgh’s Silver Eye Center for Photography and has taught photography at several institutions including the Art Institute of Philadelphia.  This series was sparked by his move to…

  • Gallery Store Opened

    Initiated by Anne Schuster Hunter with funding from the Pew Charitable Trusts to transform the first floor back room into a retail area, in 1991 Kathleen Edwards opened The Print Center Gallery Store as a sales venue for prints, photographs and artists’ books. The Gallery Store represents about 75 local, national and international artists and supports them by providing…

  • Crossing Over/Changing Places

    Crossing Over/Changing Places was a seven year project of commissions and exhibitions of prints produced by the Lower East Side Print Shop, Pyramid Atlantic, Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper (now known as the Brodsky Center), C. R. Ettinger Studio and The Print Center. The exhibition traveled throughout the US and Europe from 1992 – 1995.

  • The Print Center Publication: Jerome Kaplan Graphic Works, 1974 – 1994

    Jerome Kaplan Graphic Works, 1974 – 1994, 1994 Texts by James A. Ganz and Rachel Kaplan Softcover, 10″ x 7″, 18 pages and Jerome Kaplan Prints, 1973 Texts by George Bunker and Ruth Fine Softcover, 10″ x 7″, 32 pages [hr] In 1994, The Print Center organized its second retrospective of the works by Philadelphia artist Jerome…

  • The Print Center Edition: Ieva Iltnere

    Ieva Iltnere, Table, 1995, Etching, 9 x 12 inches, Edition of 20 Ieva Iltnere, Six Girls, 1995, Etching, 9 x 12 inches, Edition of 8 Ieva Iltnere, Evening No. 9, 1995, Etching, 9 x 11 inches, Edition of 10

  • A New Name

    From 1915 until 1996 The Print Center was known as The Print Club, and was one of many media specific, member-based clubs in Philadelphia, such as The Plastic Club, The Sketch Club and The Pen and Pencil Club. In 1996, The Print Center changed its name to properly mark our engagement with an audience much broader…

  • Christine Filippone: Our Eighth Director

    Christine Filippone led The Print Center from 1998 until 2003 during a new cultural era; one in which fundraising and marketing became essential for the well being of a nonprofit.  Until Filippone’s arrival, The Print Center was run by a full-time staff of two. Times were changing. Filippone increased the staff to four full-time employees including…

  • Curator Position Established

    Jacqueline van Rhyn was appointed as the organization’s first curator, with the support of The William Penn Foundation.  

  • IMPRINT: a public art project

    In 2002, The Print Center organized IMPRINT: a public art project, for which a series of temporary public art projects were commissioned from Dotty Attie, John Coplans, Susan Fenton, Kerry James Marshall, Virgil Marti and James Mills. The project included 46 billboard and bus shelter posters, six collectible inserts in the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday magazine,…

  • Artists-in-Schools Program

    As early as the 1940s, student education has been an important part of The Print Center’s activities. Since 2002, The Print Center’s award-winning Artists-in-Schools Program (AISP) has provided complete and self-contained, year-long artist residencies and classroom instruction to Philadelphia public high schools and after-school programs free of charge. The program has served thousands of students…

  • Taken with Time: a camera obscura project

    For the exhibition Taken with Time: a camera obscura project, 2006, Ann Hamilton, Vera Lutter and Abelardo Morell were invited to Philadelphia to create new works using camera obscuras. (The camera obscura is a photographic device that captures an optical phenomenon in which light entering a darkened space through a small hole produces an image…

  • Elizabeth Spungen: Our Tenth Director

    Appointed in 2006, Elizabeth (Liz) Spungen’s tenure at The Print Center has been marked by programmatic and administrative accomplishments. She has developed numerous major individual and institutional gifts, among them the largest gift ever received by The Print Center naming the Jensen Bryan Curatorial Chair, as well as awards from The Andy Warhol Foundation for…

  • Philagrafika 2010

    Philagrafika 2010 was an international festival celebrating print in contemporary art which included the work of over 300 artists at more than 80 venues in Philadelphia. The Graphic Unconscious was the core exhibition of the festival and was held at five venues, Moore College of Art & Design; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Philadelphia…

  • Color Motion: Edna Andrade Prints

    The exhibition and publication were made possible by special project support from the Estate of Edna Wright Andrade.   Exhibition September 14 – November 17, 2012 Noted Philadelphia artist Edna Andrade (1917-2008) is best known for her hard-edged Op Art abstractions. This retrospective exhibition was the first dedicated to her printed works and brought together over…

  • Demetrius Oliver: Canicular

    The project was funded by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Publication of Demetrius Oliver: Canicular was supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts. Exhibition Canicular was an innovative exhibition of newly commissioned works by Demetrius Oliver, which completely transformed The Print Center’s spaces and organizational functions. Oliver…

  • The Print Center Publication: Will Brown & Thomas Devaney, The Picture that Remains

    The Picture that Remains, 2014 Photographs by Will Brown and Poems by Thomas Devaney with an introduction by Vincent Katz Hardcover, 8 1/2″ x 11″, 64 pages, 38 quadtone images [hr] The Picture that Remains reveals the power of collaboration. Together photographer Will Brown and poet Thomas Devaney created a book that accentuates the beauty and…