Perth Voice Interactive

IT’S being hailed as the “great print revival”, an exhibition of limited edition prints by the who’s who of Australian artists.

These days the cream of the nation’s artists are happy to be part of the Berkeley Editions, including the likes of  internationally renowned Archibald winner Gary Shead, Margaret Olley and Jasper Knight.

But it was a different story in 1980: “We wrote to the top 10 Australian artists…[and] the only one to reply was Arthur Boyd,” Robyn Berkeley tells the Voice.

Luckily for her they didn’t come any more credentialed than Boyd, who’d said; “If you’re going to give it a go so will I,” she recalls.

It didn’t take long for the art world to see the value of limited edition prints in promoting art to a new, and growing, audience.

These days Berkeley no long needs to send letters: “Artists are coming to us,” she says.

Over the first 10 years Boyd’s work continued to be a favourite: “Because people wanted them.”

Limited editions aren’t a simple case of making a digital image: it’s labour intensive.

“People are buying one at a time to sell in their old age.”

The image is produced from a block, plate, or stone on zinc, copper or a similar surface, with the artist working closely with the print maker, or master printer, Berkeley says. Each piece is numbered, blind-stamped and has the artist’s signature, and print runs can be as little as 25: “It’s expensive because the way of hand-printing is dying,” Berkeley says.

Owning an original Boyd or Olley is out of reach of most, but an etching or print sells for around $5000–$8000 and are sought after as an investment, Berkeley says.

“People are buying one at a time to sell in their old age.”

Berkeley Editions’ etchings feature in leading galleries, institutions, corporate and private collections around the world, including the collection of the late Queen Mother.

Along with a swag of prints by the likes of Clifton Pugh and Charles Blackman, Shead has created three exclusively for the exhibition.

There’ll also be original works on paper by Shead, Jason Benjamin and Fred Cress.

Berkeley Editions Works on Paper, the Great Print Revival is on at Linton and Kay Galleries, St George’s Terrace, Perth May 6–20.

by JENNY D’ANGER