Robert Blackburn, self-portrait, c.1970. Courtesy the Estate of Robert Blackburn
Ronald Joseph, Robert Blackburn, c.1937. Lithograph, 15 3/4 x 12 1/8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 1999 (1999.529.106). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY
Blackburn (second from left) with his press and fellow artists including Chaim Koppelman (sixth from left) and Thomas Laidman (third from right), 1955. Photograph by Louis Dienes. Courtesy RBPMW
Robert Blackburn at ULAE, 1961. Photograph by Hans Naumuth. Used with the permission of ULAE
Krishna Reddy, assistant, and Blackburn, c.1974. Image courtesy RBPMW
Crew, Romare Bearden, and Blackburn during filming of “Bearden Plays Bearden,” 1980. Image courtesy RBPMW
Faith Ringgold (videotaping), Kay WalkingStick, Mel Edwards, Blackburn, and Juan Sánchez in Cairo, 1994. Photograph by Karl Peterson. Courtesy the Estate of Robert Blackburn
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December 10, 1920
Robert Hamilton Blackburn is born in Summit, NJ 1920–1925 Blackburn family lives in Summit, NJ 1925–1927 Blackburn family lives in Elmira, NY 1927 Blackburn family settles in Harlem, NY 1934 Classes at the Harlem Art Workshop, 135th Street NYPL 1934–1935 Classes in the Arts & Crafts Department, Harlem YMCA 1934–1938 Attends Charles Alston’s “306” salon 1933–1936 Attends Frederick Douglass Junior High School/P.S. 139 1937–1938 Classes at Augusta Savage’s “Uptown Arts Laboratory” 1936–1939 Attends DeWitt Clinton High School, Bronx June 1936–June 1939 Blackburn’s work is frequently reproduced in “Magpie,” the art and literary magazine of DeWitt Clinton High School November 1937 Harlem Community Art Center opens (a FAP-WPA facility) 1938 Lithography classes at Harlem Community Art Center May 1938 Blackburn sweeps Scholastic Magazine’s national art competition and is noted in the New York Times June 1939 Graduates from DeWitt Clinton High School September 1940–June 1943 Attends the Art Students League 1943–1947 Works odd jobs June–July 1944 Moves downtown to W. 48th Street, then to W. 24th Street October 1947 Acquires his own lithographic press at 111 W. 17th Street, 4th Floor. Calls his home workshop the “Bob Blackburn Workshop,” and sometimes the “Creative Lithographic Workshop” 1950–1951 Drawing classes with Wallace Harrison 1951–1952 Will Barnet produces experimental multi–stone color lithographs in collaboration with Blackburn, at Blackburn’s workshop, that are noted by Art News magazine 1952 Includes intaglio processes in his workshop, after Stanley William Hayter of Atelier 17 (who relocated to New York from 1940-1950) returns to Paris 1953–1954 Receives John Hay Whitney Fellowship to work at Atelier Desjobert, Paris. Blackburn travels in France, Italy, and Switzerland Late 1954–1955 Returns to New York and his Workshop 1957–1963 Serves as the first master printer for ULAE, West Islip, producing the first 79 editions of that workshop. 1960s Begins to work extensively in woodcut 1963 Advertises his shop as “The Creative Graphic Workshop” 1968 Relocates to 248 W. 23rd Street. Participates in founding the Lower East Side Printshop 1971 Incorporates “The Printmaking Workshop, Inc.” (PMW) as a not–for–profit institution Late 1975–early 1976 PMW moves to 114 W. 17th Street, 3rd Floor 1978 Participates in founding the Asilah Workshop, Morocco 1987 Receives the Skowhegan Governors Award for Lifetime Service to the Arts December 1987 PMW moves to 55 W. 17th Street, 3rd Floor 1988 Travels to Sweden and produces a lithograph. Blackburn and PMW receive a Governor’s Art Award from the New York State Council on the Arts 1989 Blackburn is a guest artist at the Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia 1992 Receives a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship 1994 Elected a National Academician by the National Academy of Design, NY. Travels to Egypt with a group of artists and a PMW exhibition representing the U.S. at the 5th International Cairo Biennial September 1997 PMW moves to 19 W. 24th Street, 9th Floor March 10, 1998 Print Collection moves to off-site warehouse 2000 Blackburn makes prints at Dieu Donné Papermill, NY. Receives the Lee Krasner Award, from the Pollock–Krasner Foundation 2001 PMW closes. Agreement is signed with Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) at 323 W. 39th Street that the “Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop” (RBPMW) will become a program of EFA. Agreement is signed with Library of Congress, Washington D.C., to deposit over 2,500 works 2002 Blackburn is commissioned to produce mosaics for the MTA Lexington Avenue Line #6 subway station April 21, 2003 Robert Blackburn dies in New York City 2005 RBPMW opens on the 2nd Floor of EFA. MTA commission is unveiled |