Crystal Bridges to exhibit prints from recent buy

Of all the works acquired by the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art during its inaugural year, a collection of 468 early 20th-century prints was the largest haul. It took private collector Daniel Lebard of Belgium about 30 years to amass the collection, Kevin Murphy, the museum’s curator of American art, said Tuesday.

A temporary exhibition titled “Art Under Pressure: Early Twentieth Century American Prints” will feature the 40 best pieces of the recent acquisition Dec. 21 through April 22 at Crystal Bridges in Bentonville. Murphy called the exhibition “the highlights” of what Lebard had to offer.

All works in the collection were created between 1925 and 1945. Printmaking came into favor during the Depression and World War II era as a fine-art medium, driven mostly by the working artist’s desire to bring pieces to a larger audience, Murphy said.

“The artists were alsoself-conscious about art being accessible to everyone,” he added.

The collection features pieces by artists better known for their works in other media, such as Thomas Hart Benton and Charles Sheeler, as well as artists who worked exclusively through prints, including Martin Lewis and Benton Spruance. Female artists prominent in the collection are Ida Abelman, Minna Citron, Mabel Dwight, Jolan Gross-Bettelheim, Riva Helfond and Bernarda Bryson Shahn. All the major printmaking media are represented: drypoint, etching, engraving, lithography, screenprint, woodcut and wood engraving, according to a release from the museum.

Murphy declined to comment on the prints’ purchase price.

“It’s less about monetary value and more about whether it helps transform Crystal Bridges’ collection in a really significant way,” he said.

Until Lebard sold theprints to Crystal Bridges, the Bentonville museum had less than a handful like them.

What’s remarkable, Murphy said, is their condition.

“Getting a good example [of a print] that hasn’t been in the sun, ripped or torn ... ink is fragile. Caring for them can be difficult.”

It is possible Lebard will come to Bentonville to see the exhibit, Murphy said. Pieces of the collection have been on public display only once before in Paris.

During the period the prints were created, artists who worked primarily in printmaking began to experiment with technique, expanding the limits of the medium to create original artworks that could be inexpensively produced in multiples anddistributed, say 75 at a time, Murphy said. Mail-order art dealers worked with artists to produce limited-edition prints that could be sold for just a few dollars. It was the first time original artwork was within the financial means of average Americans.

Jolan Gross-Bettelheim’s

Assembly Line (Home Front), a lithograph on paper, is part of the Dec. 21-April 22 exhibition “Art Under Pressure: Early Twentieth Century American Prints” at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville.