Tyler Graphics, The Extended Image

Introduction by Martin Friedman, essays by Elizabeth Armstrong, Richard H. Axsom, Ruth E. Fine, Jack Flam, Judith Goldman, E. C. Gooseen, Robert M. Murdock, and Leonard B. Schlosser.

Since 1974 Tyler Graphics Ltd. has offered printmaking facilities of unsurpassed sophistication to twenty-nine artists, from Anni and Josef Albers to Robert Zakanitch. The results of their collaborations with Kenneth Tyler and his small staff of highly skilled printers are beautifully illustrated in this intriguing volume of far-ranging essyas.

The book begins with a brief history of Tyler Graphics and of the Tyler Graphics Archive, written by Martin Friedman, director of the Walker Art Center from 1961 to 1990, where the archive is housed. Judith Goldman's lively profile of Kenneth Tyler follows, vividly conveying the creativity and determination of this irrepressible master printer. She traces his career from his early days as an art student at the Art Institute of Chicago though his experiences at Tamarind Lithography workshop and Gemini G.E.L. in Los Angeles to his establishment of Tyler Graphics Ltd. in Bedford Village, New York. 

In the first six essays on the work itself Jack Flam perceptively places Robert Motherwell's collaborations with Tyler in the context of the artist's long involvement with Abstract Expressionism. This is followed by E. C. Goossen's skillful analysis of gestural works by Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and Nancy Graves. Robert M. Murdock's discerning essay focuses on geometric abstraction by artists including Jack Tworkov, Ellsworth Kelly, and Michael Heizer. Elizabeth Armstrong, who organized this volume, incisively investigates the work of Pop artists such as Richard Hamilton, Ckaes Oldenburg, and Roy Lichtenstein. Richard H. Axsom devotes his fine essay to Frank Stella's diverse projects at the Tyler Workshop. The book concludes with Leonard B. Schlosser's capsule history of papermaking and Ruth E. Fine's fascinating discussion of the innovative paperworks made by David Hockney, Kenneth Noland, Alan Shields, and many others. 

With its 140 large color illustrations of prints and several sculptures, Tyler Graphics: The Extended Image provides a revealing overview of the multifaceted art created at the workshop and offers insights into the collaborative complexities of printmaking.