Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of

printmaking Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proces ...

in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York City during the years surrounding World War II. It moved back to Paris in 1950.

History

The Atelier 17 studio was formed as an experimental workshop for the graphic arts in Paris, France in 1927 by

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

(1901–1988). The studio was known for its collaborative atmosphere, with artists sharing ideas on technique and aesthetics. The studio was located at 17 rue Campagne-Première in Paris. By 1940 the studio's founder, Hayter, left Paris as World War II was starting. He moved to New York City and reopened his Atelier 17 studio there. Originally connected to the

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers ...

, by 1945 the studio was located as East 8th Street. The studio attracted many European artists who had fled from Europe and also introduced American artists to fine art printmaking. Hayter ran the workshop with the expectation that all the artists working there would learn from each other and become proficient in all aspects of intaglio printing. The Atelier brought together Americans with artists that had fled Europe to New York. Hayter moved his studio back to Paris in 1950 where it continued to operate until Hayter's death in 1988. That year the studio was renamed Atelier Contrepoint and remains active.

Techniques

Atelier 17 artists worked with established and experimental techniques including multi-color printing and textured patterns. Among the techniques used were

aquatint Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used ...

, color

offset printing Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithography, lithographic process, which ...

etching Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...

, the ''Grible Method'', liftground,

line engraving Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is mainly used in connection with 18th- or 19th-century commercial illustrations for magazines and books or reproductions of paintings. ...

, and

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

. The Atelier 17 studio created the earliest examples of

viscosity printing Viscosity printing is a multi-color printmaking technique that incorporates principles of relief printing and intaglio printing. It was pioneered by Stanley William Hayter. The process uses the principle of viscosity to print multiple colors of ...

and is credited with inventing the process.

Artists associated with Atelier 17

The catalogue for the Atelier 17 50th anniversary retrospective includes the names of artists who worked at Atelier 17.

Paris (1927-1939)

New York (1940-1955)

Legacy

Atelier 17 and artists associated with it have been the subject of several comprehensive exhibitions, notably ''Atelier 17: a 50th anniversary retrospective exhibition'' at the Elvehjem Art Center of the University of Wisconsin in 1977, ''Atelier 17'' at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

in 1978, ''Workshop and Legacy: Stanley William Hayter, Krishna Reddy, Zarina Hashmi'' at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

in 2016, and ''Cutting Edge:Modern Prints from Atelier 17'' at the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...