The Single Prints and Bookworks of Birgit Skiöld 1923- 1982 Introduction: Birgit Skiöld and Print Workshop Skiöld opened her printmaking workshop in 1958 in the basement of 28, Charlotte Street, London. She had run a small workshop for 2 years previously, having been inspired by Robert Erskine, who ran St George’s Gallery Prints, and by the Parisian open-print studios which she had encountered as a student. One of the first workshops of its kind in London, Print Workshop was a non-commercial open studio, where artists could work independently producing etchings and lithographs.1 Few such facilities were available in London at the time.2 Print Workshop provided a professional and friendly place for artists to work and continued to attract visitors for over 2 decades, remaining open until 1983, a year after the artist’s death. Artists and their printers visited there, international visitors came from Europe, Japan, Australia and North America and worked alongside British printmakers. They found a busy centre for avant-garde ideas and printmaking activity and a haven of print culture, presided over by a very special doyen, who ran a fairly strict régime on a shoe-string budget. The excellent reputation of Print Workshop’s printers and the low costs meant that professional standards were attainable outside the bigger and more expensive studios. Proofing and some editioning were carried out there, the proceeds going to the printers with a small subsidy to Skiöld for running the workshop. Work was carried out by, or on behalf of, Michael Ayrton, Boyd & Evans, Jim Dine (Ernest Donagh proofed Jim Dine’s etchings for the portfolio with Lee Friedlander’s photographs), Katherine Gili (for Warren Editions), David Hockney (his etchings, Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, 1969, were proofed there for Petersburg Press), Tessa Jaray, Edouardo Paolozzi, Tom Phillips, Dieter Roth, Michael Sandle, William Tillyer, Joe Tilson, and William Tucker, and many other notable artists.3 American artists, Warrington 1 See Biography and career for more detail about the early years. 2 Sylvie Turner highlights this in her article: ‘Printmaking Studios in Britain, The Continuing Tradition’, in Print Quarterly VII 1990 4, p.406 quoting from her interview with Stanley Jones June 1990. 3 For references to Hockney and Dine see the statement in the catalogue, An Exhibition of prints by artists associated with Print Workshop, Curwen Gallery, May/June 1971.There’s an interesting undated note in the V&A Skiöld Archive, tucked into a Studio International article, March1971, that says Gordon House printed for Paolozzi at Print Workshop. The context is, The Conditonal Probability Machine series of 24 prints, EA 760-777, which were photo-etchings on copper, commercially prepared by Central Etching Service Ltd, London. It is possible the reference is to a preliminary proofing stage. See also Sidey, who gives the otherwise known details of proofing and printing by Editions Alecto, in, Editions Alecto Original Graphics, Multiple Originals 1960-1981, Lund Humphries, 2003 p.196. Colescott, and Kathan Brown, who later set up Crown Point Press in San Francisco in 1962; both worked at Print Workshop in the early days.4 While there were a number of women artists and printmakers active at the time, it was unusual for Skiöld, a woman, to be running her own establishment.5 In this and in other ways, for instance in her work with Circle Press, she was a phenomenon. Printmaking underwent dramatic change in the early 1960s in London. Soon there were a number of large studio workshops which introduced new techniques of photo-lithography or screen-printing, among them the famous Kelpra Studio, set up by Chris and Rose Prater in 1958, who pioneered screen-printing; Editions Alecto, established 1962, which gained a reputation for vanguard Fine Art print production and multiples; and Curwen Studio, established in 1958, which specialised in Fine Art lithography. These establishments could offer the services of master printers and helped to transform the Fine Art market.6 This market was volatile and fluctuated but, for a time, it sustained the rising fortunes of the modernist print. Print Workshop offered an intimate working environment, described by some as reminiscent of Parisian print ateliers they had visited.7 There was no house style or tendency, just diversity, individuality and excellence. One might have encountered Tom Phillips, a frequent visitor in the early days working in one corner, or, later on, Maurice Payne proofing for David Hockney, maybe an American or Japanese artist over in London to work for a few months, or Birgit Skiöld herself developing one of her ideas, or one of her printers who made their own work too, and participated in the group exhibitions that Skiöld organised.8 The studio had a lively and industrious atmosphere, when it was at its best, and was a little chaotic on a bad day. Clearly Print Workshop 4 See William Packer: ‘London in Print’ Art & Artists Vol 6 no 5 Issue 65 September 1971 pp 25-27. See Richard Cox, ‘Warrington Colescott, the London Years, 1956-1966’, The Tamarind Papers, A Journal of the Fine Print Vol XIV 1991-92 pp. 70-74: Cox says that Anthony Gross introduced Colescott to Birgit Skiöld in 1957. Colescott was looking for a London based printmaking studio in which to work, having visited briefly Atelier 17 in Paris the previous year. He returned again in 1963 for 5 months. Access to Print Workshop was mainly through introduction and recommendation. Kathan Brown was working at the studio in June 1959 according to the Daybook, and visited over the following years, maintaining correspondence with Skiöld. 5 Pat Gilmour mentions Skiold’s achievement and the history of the revival of printmaking in the U.K. in her important introduction to the catalogue, Graveurs Anglais Contemporains, Musée d’Art et d’Histoire, Cabinet des Estampes, Genève, 5 April – 5 May 1974. Only 3 women appeared in the exhibition: Boyd, Riley and Skiöld. 6 Op. cit; Turner 1990, p. 408 who gives examples of other print studios which opened during the 1960s 7 See Robert Erskine’s evocative description of Print Workshop before its expansion, written for the exhibition catalogue, Print Workshop 1966, Curwen Gallery 6-30 April 1966. 8 See Pat Gilmour, Arts Review Vol XXIII no 10 May1971, p.317, who, in reviewing the exhibition of Print Workshop artists’ work at the Curwen Gallery, gives a full account of Print Workshop activity. See also Susan Forsyth’s description: ‘Personalities: An Occasional Series, Birgit Skiöld, Graphics by Susan Forsyth’, in Arts Review Vol XXVII No 18 September 1975, p.516. brought great advantages to many artists, who enjoyed the facilities and the ambience. Skiöld editioned most of her work there and benefited from the skills of the printers and assistants she trained or employed. There were many talented individuals, among them, Marie Walker, who joined c.1968, not long after completing her studies at Hammersmith College of Art, where Skiöld was a tutor; Frank Connelly who joined in 1972; and Richard Michell who joined later in 1977; Ian Brice who joined c.1976, also Mick Templar, a skilled technician, who assisted with photo-processing during the early 1970s. Mick and Marie ran Print Workshop during Skiöld’s visits abroad until Marie’s departure in 1974. Frank was considered by Skiöld to be her partner in running Print Workshop in the later 1970s and was heavily relied upon. These printers were very highly regarded and respected, though never paid well. They were to be of key importance in the genesis and production of Skiöld’s work. There were several others who appear in the Daybooks who also made a crucial contribution, although their stay at Print Workshop was much shorter. There were tensions in the running of Print Workshop, which was hardly a lucrative enterprise. Some felt critical that its prime purpose was to serve Skiöld’s production needs, but, if this was the case, it was an informal arrangement. Skiöld’s diaries from the 1970s record that she paid Marie Walker to print her own editions, aside from the small amount that Marie could earn as a printer at the Workshop. Skiöld began the workshop with a limited amount of printmaking equipment, a star wheel etching press and a stone lithographic press. This served the immediate needs of Skiöld and a small circle of students and friends. Skiöld started to equip Print Workshop for photographic processing during 1971, spending several months perfecting techniques of photo-etching and photo-lithography. During 1971 – 1972, she also rearranged the basement studio to make best use of the small space available, removing a partition so they could accommodate the additional presses and new activity. Alongside the older star-wheel press there was now an Oliviero Bendini etching press, which could take Double-elephant (very large) size paper; a hand operated Furnival lithographic press and a small offset lithographic press (electric), which she had ordered from Japan.9 Print-workshop was never fully equipped for screen-printing and Skiöld herself seldom used this process. 9 Information from a letter to Kathan Brown, Director of Crown Point Press San Francisco, 18 January 1973 V&A AAD 1997/18/BSMB Ic 2 of 3. The NAKAN (KC) offset press came from the Nakanishi Iron Works: order letter 10 February 1972. There were teething problems in adjusting levels but eventually Skiöld was very pleased with it. The Furnival Press replaced Vanessa Bell’s old direct litho press. All her prints, with just a few exceptions, and all the imagery for her bookworks were produced at 28, Charlotte St..