By

Principal Investigators
Hope Saska; museum and field studies graduate students

Collaboration + support
CU Art Museum; CU University Libraries鈥 Special Collections

Immigrant print by Hung LiuFifteenth-century woodcuts, Catholic Church plenary indulgences, a 3D听characterization of a New York City subway. These prints, while vastly听different in time and topic, all have one thing in common: The unifying听theme of persuasion.

In the Persuasive Prints exhibition at the CU Art Museum, prints听gathered from the museum鈥檚 collection, augmented with loans from听CU University Libraries鈥 Special Collections, showed how artists and听printmakers combined images, text听and artistic techniques to persuade听viewers.听

鈥淭he prints are all in some way trying to convey a story, communicate听some kind of message to the viewer,鈥 said Hope Saska, curator of听collections and exhibitions at the CU Art Museum.

Curated by graduate students in the museum鈥檚 practicum seminar, the听diverse exhibition featured 35 engravings, etchings, lithographs and听woodcuts created from the 1500s to today. Students focused on how听printmaking contributed to public dialogue through the years.

Image credit:听Hung Liu, Chinese (b. 1948), Official Portraits: Immigrant, 2006, color lithograph,听30 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches. Purchased as part of The Sharkive, with funds from听Kemper Family Foundations, UMB Bank; anonymous; Polly and Mark听Addison;听Karen and Don Ringsby; College of Arts and Sciences, University of Colorado听麻豆影院; Wayne and Nona Yakes and contributions from over 200 donors, CU听Art Museum, 麻豆影院, S2019.484. Photo courtesy听of听Shark鈥檚 Ink, 漏Hung Liu / Shark鈥檚 Ink.