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IFPDA 2007 BOOK AWARD JOHN ITTMANN

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NEW YORK CITY — The International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) presented the 2007 IFPDA Book Award to John Ittmann, curator of prints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, for the exhibition catalog Mexico and Modern Printmaking: A Revolution in the Graphic Arts, 1920 to 1950.

Ittmann received the award on November 1, at the Professional Preview Breakfast at the IFPDA Print Fair, The Park Avenue Armory. Ittmann is the fourth recipient of the IFPDA Book Award, which includes a framed citation and a monetary prize of $2,000. Nearly 300 curators and art professionals were in attendance for the presentation.

Mexico and Modern Printmaking accompanied the exhibition of the same title organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas. The exhibition opened in 2006 and traveled to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tenn., and the Phoenix Art Museum.

The catalog was edited by Ittmann with contributions by Innis Howe Shoemaker, the Audrey and William H. Helfand senior curator of prints, drawings and photographs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; James M. Wechsler, an independent scholar based in New York City; and Lyle W. Williams, curator of prints and drawings a the McNay. The catalog was published by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the McNay Art Museum, in association with Yale University Press.

Diane Villani, president of IFPDA, described the catalog as a groundbreaking book, the first to undertake an in-depth examination of Mexico’s revival of printmaking in the decades after the 1910–20 revolution, the vital contributions Mexico’s printmakers made to modern art, and their influence on coming generations of foreign artists.

Major artists such as Jose Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo produced editions that furthered the social and political reforms of the revolution and helped develop an uniquely Mexican cultural identity. In addition to the essays, some 300 prints are illustrated, many of which were previously unpublished.

The IFPDA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the highest ethical standards and quality among fine print dealers, and to promoting greater appreciation of prints among art collectors and the general public. For information on the 2008 book ward, www.ifpda.org or 212-674-6095.