Between Stone and Screen: The Rise of Printmaking in Post-War Britain with a New Emphasis on Robert Erskine and St. George's Gallery Prints (1955-1963)

This thesis documents the rise of printmaking in post-war Britain that culminated in the print boom of the 1960s, focusing on the activities of the print dealer Robert Erskine and his gallery St. George's Gallery Prints in London. Chapter 1 outlines the British print scene in the decades prior to the founding of St. George's Gallery Prints in 1955, acknowledging the overlap between the two periods while drawing attention to a shift in attitudes that enabled printmaking to flourish. Chapter 2 describes Erskine's background, the set-up of St. George's Gallery Prints and the campaign he waged to prove that prints were original works of art rather than reproductions. Chapter 3, in addition to recounting three early exhibitions and the creation of the gallery's brand identity, is about the challenges Erskine faced in establishing a professional print publishing industry in Britain that could compete internationally. Chapter 4 analyses Erskine's core artists -Merlyn Evans, Ceri Richards, Anthony Gross, Edwin La Dell, Michael Rothenstein and Julian Trevelyan - as a group who served as allies in his printmaking movement. This is confirmed in Chapter 5 where I demonstrate that these same artists helped transform the printmaking departments of key London art colleges. Chapters 6 and 7 return to Erskine's exhibition programme, with the former analysing his curatorial choices within the context of post-war art and culture. The latter is an in-depth study of The Graven Image exhibitions, which I argue, marked the beginning of a new era in printmaking and helped launched the printmaking career of David Hockney. Chapter 8 shows how Erskine engaged with the limited sources of public patronage available to printmakers while simultaneously developing a new model of corporate patronage.

In order to analyse Erskine's role in the rise of printmaking during this period, the thesis adopts a methodological approach that features both archival research and material gathered from the author's original interviews with some of Erskine's circle. Key themes and insights emerge through analysis of this material, including the role that cross-cultural exchange between English and international printmakers played in the evolution of the global print boom of the 1960s. While the 1960s are often written about in terms of rupture, I will argue for continuity or at least evolution by proving that the seeds of the print boom were planted in the proceeding decade. The tension between the print as an agent of mass dissemination and as an original work of art is highlighted throughout the dissertation. This tension did not dissipate until the mid-to-late 1960s when the print was celebrated rather than denigrated for its mechanical and commercial aspects and the emphasis on originality diminished.