If you are familiar with works on paper, you immediately recognize the name Robert Blackburn and the immense impact he had on the vocation of printmaking.  You will see that in this collection, he is responsible for many of the prints. He is THE master printer, technical expert and collaborator, capable of committing an artist’s work to paper in an accurate and sensitive manner.  His Printmaking Workshop, which he opened in 1947, was a space where artists could learn, experiment, and often take their practice in new directions.

Blackburn spent his formative years in Harlem where he was fortunate to experience all that Harlem Renaissance had to offer.  He was a very good student who received many accolades and served as art editor for the Pilot at Frederick Douglass Junior High School, as well as the Magpie at DeWitt Clinton High School, where he published his poetry, stories, and prints. Among the contributors where none other than Richard Avedon, James Baldwin, and Sidney “Paddy” Chayefsky. He became acquainted with Charles Alston at an early age and attended his Harlem Arts Workshop.  Blackburn was a member of of the Harlem Artists Guild, which had been established by Augusta Savage, and later took classes at the Harlem YMCA’s Arts and Crafts department.

While in high school, he was involved in the Harlem Community Art Center. Initially directed by Augusta Savage, it became the largest WPA program in the country.  It was here that he met Riva Helfond, who introduced him to lithography, etching, woodblock, and silk screening in 1938.  The lithographs he produced here were printed in the Magpie and entered into some of his first exhibitions. All of these experiences and connections made him an excellent collaborator in his future career. And Blackburn fully intended to make art his career.

He attended the Art Students League from 1940-1943, studying with abstract painter Vaclav Vytlacil, and printmaker Will Barnet. In 1947, Blackburn purchased a lithographic press and began earnestly collaborating with many artists including Ronald Joseph, Peter Bradley, and Eldzier Cortor, in addition to his own work. He began to explore abstraction more and more in the late 1950’s.

Blackburn served as master printer to several organizations and taught printmaking in many institutions.  He was deeply committed to bringing marginalized artists into his workshop and fostering a community of collaboration that continues to influence artists today.

Selected Exhibitions

Afro-American Artists: New York and Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, 1970

WPA and the Black Artist: Chicago and New York, Chicago Public Library, IL, 1978

Impressions/Expressions: Black American Graphics, Studio Museum in Harlem, NY, 1980

Choosing: An Exhibit of Changing Perspectives in Modern Art and Art Criticism by Black Americans, 1925-1985, Hampton University, VA, 1985

Black Printmakers and the WPA, Lehman College Art Gallery, CUNY, Bronx, NY, 1989

BOB BLACKBURN's Printmaking Workshop: Artists of Color, Hillwood Art Museum, Long Island University, NY, 1992

Will Barnet - Bob Blackburn: An Artistic Friendship in Relief, Cochran Collection, Lagrange, GA, 1997

Creative Space: Fifty Years of Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, International Print Center, New York, NY, 2003

From Challenge to Triumph: African American Prints & Printmaking, 1867-2002, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art, Brooklyn, NY, 2003

African-American Artists, 1929-1945: Prints, Drawings and Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY 2003

In Search of Missing Masters: The Lewis Tanner Moore Collection of African American Art, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA, 2009

Robert Blackburn & Modern American Printmaking, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2021