University of New England

John Muench: A Retrospective

Angelica Twice, trial proof

Winterscape with Seven Trees, 7/40

The Legend

Gallery Conversation
Oct. 3, 2006
5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

The Exhibition
The "John Muench: A Retrospective" focuses on the founder of the Westbrook College Printmaking Workshop. It will include educational programs featuring his family, workshop artists and art professionals. The exhibition is held in collaboration with 25 other Maine venues focusing on the "History of Printmaking in Maine." 

Works from both the artist's family and members of the Maine Printmaking Workshop at Westbrook College, including Elizabeth Baird, Francis Hodsdon, Frederick Lynch, Alison Hildreth, Thaddeus Macy, Alice Spencer, Roberta Levesque-Nadeau, Pat Gorman, and Thomas Nadeau, will be on view in the Gallery's Lower Level.

All events are free and open to the public.  For more information about this or other exhibits, visit www.une.edu/artgallery or call (207) 221-4499.

Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine
UNE's exhibition is part of the largest collaborative arts project in Maine's history, The Maine Print Project: Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine. Organized by the Maine Print Project and involving a statewide collaboration of 25 art museums and non-profit arts institutions, it will take place from August 2006 through May 2007 under coordinator Bruce Brown of the Center for Maine Contemporary Art.

The Maine Print Project is publishing "The Imprint of Place: Maine Printmaking 1800 - 2005," an illustrated overview of Maine printmaking, written by David P. Becker.

Major funding for "The Maine Print Project: Celebrating 200 Years of Printmaking in Maine" is provided by the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces Program; and by a major grant from the Maine Community Foundation. Generous funding is also provided by the Davis Family Foundation, with additional support from June Fitzpatrick Gallery.

John Muench
John Muench, Westbrook College's only artist in residence (1976-1980) and founder of the Maine Printmaking Workshop at Westbrook College (1977-1983), was a consummate artist and one of the country's leading lithographers who printed his own stones and brought the use of bold and subtle colors powerfully to bear in his work. Muench has said, "There is, for me, a never-ending fascination and continuing excitement with what happens with pressure, inks and paper."

The prints in this retrospective demonstrate his broad influences, among them, John Taylor Arms, Jacques Mourlot and Marc Chagall.  From Maine to New Mexico, from figurative landscapes to highly abstract conceptions, and from technical precision to wild improvisation, his artistic contributions to print-making excellence both in his home state and internationally make this celebration of his work from the 1940s through the 1980s especially timely. His works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, London's Victoria and Albert Museum, and the National Museum in Jerusalem, in addition to many private collections around the country. 

His body of work might be organized into five major categories, including his fascination with the ocean, his landscapes, his trips to Honduras, Spain and France, his Homages to great men such Robert Frost, John Muir, Pablo Picasso, Charles Baudelaire and Toulouse Lautrec and his body of work that might be labeled 'woman as mystery' or 'the intrigue of the female'. 

Muench was the head of the Printmaking Department at the Rhode Island School of Design during the 1960s and 70s, and was selected as an "Outstanding Educator of the Year" in 1975.