In the year 1939, the founding members of the American Color Print Society decided to create an organization for the exhibition of color prints.  This was at a time when only black and white prints were considered worthy of display in museums and galleries.  The three founding members were Florence V. Cannon, Mary Mullineux and Waunita Smith. The American Color Print Exhibition of 1940, which included the work of the 85 original members, heralded the arrival of the color print as an American print medium.  The use of color in printmaking encouraged artists to experiment with the traditional methods of printmaking such as lithography, block printing, etching, intaglio, silkscreen and monotype.  This led to other printmaking techniques, including the use of collage, found materials, letterpress and digital printmaking. There have been many distinguished members during the 80 plus-year history of the organization.  Among them have been Benton Spruance, Jerome Kaplan, Rockwell Kent, Will Barnet, Stella Drabkin, Jacob Landau, Dorothy Hutton, June Wayne, Eugene Feldman, Ethel Ashton, Bernard Kohn, Jeanette Kohn, Mildred Dillon, Abraham Hankins, John Taylor Arms, Richard Hood, Francoise Gilot, Victor and Michael Lasuchin, Edna Andrade, Tony Lazorko, Leonard Leibowitz, Idaherma Williams, Merle Spandorfer, and Samuel Maitin.

Today, the American Color Print Society is a national non-profit corporation with the following purpose: To promote and foster original graphic art; to encourage and promote exhibitions of original color prints; to educate art students and the public about the varied techniques of original color printmaking.

Exhibitions have included Villanova University (Connelly Center), The Free Library of Philadelphia (print department); Cheltenham Center for the Arts, Abington Art Center, Chestnut Hill Gallery, The Plastic Club (Philadelphia), Markeim Art Center (Haddonfield, NJ), AFA Gallery (Scranton, PA), Haverford College (PA), River Renaissance Center for the Arts (Millville, NJ) and the Mary R. Koch Arts Center (Wichita, KS). The Society also participated in the Philagrafika International Print Festival.

For more than 80 years, ACPS artists have been creatively inventive with their technical skills. Our ready acceptance of new printmaking technologies and techniques has helped our membership grow geographically.  Printmakers represented in our recent exhibitions have come from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, North Carolina, Kansas, Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Mississippi, Tennessee, Rhode Island, California, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia and New Mexico.

Image Credit: “Chaos 2 Series: The City” screenprint, 27″ x 21″ 2021 by Arthur Brener.