The Prairie Print Makers was a society of print artists and collectors headquartered in Wichita, Kansas and active from 1930 to 1966. Formed by a group of Kansas artists, its objective was "to further the interest of both artists and laymen in printmaking and collecting". Membership was by invitation only and consisted of active artists who paid only $1 per year, and associates who paid $5 per year. A third category of free honorary membership was conferred by the governing board to those who contributed to the cause of print making and collecting.

Two principal activities were employed to achieve the society's goals. First, an artist member was commissioned each year to produce a print, typically limited to an edition of 200, solely for distribution to the associate membership. Second, the society sponsored annual sales exhibitions of new works by society artists. These were sent to schools, social clubs, museums, art clubs, universities, and libraries. A collection of available prints went to the east and south, the west (including Hawaii), and the mid-west, with a fourth set held in reserve to meet demand. The prints from these shows were purposely priced low, from 3 to 15 dollars, "so that the public may enjoy the opportunity to purchase these excellent specimens of American art for personal use or gifts".

The Prairie Print Makers group was modeled on The Chicago Society of Etchers, the Society of American Etchers, and Print Makers of California. It was meant to complement and augment such older societies whose memberships were full and who focused only on intaglio prints. Like its California counterpart, the Prairie Print Makers embraced not just etchings, but lithographs, wood engravings, woodcuts, and linoleum cuts as well.

Though membership expanded well outside the original mid-west origins, much of the art produced for the society is in the regionalist tradition, featuring serene scenes of small towns, farms and rural landscapes of the mid-west. Presentation prints were to be produced "in the realist tradition of observable life" and must "reflect the tradition and art of printmaking itself".

History After a year of planning, the Prairie Print Makers society formally began on December 28, 1930. Eight artists traveled to Lindsborg, Kansas at the invitation of C. A. Seward to meet with him in the studio of Birger Sandzen to mark the occasion. The charter members were Leo Courtney (president), Charles Capps (vice-president), C. A. Seward (secretary-treasurer), Lloyd Foltz, Clarence Hotvedt, Arthur W. Hall, Norma Bassett Hall, Herschel Logan, Edmund Kopietz, and Birger Sandzén. They were joined by Carl Smalley, an art and book dealer, and close friend of Seward and Sandzén. Artist William Dickerson from Wichita was the first artist nominated to join the fledgling organization. Carl Smalley was awarded the first honorary membership.

The annual report for 1935-36 shows considerable growth in the first four years -- over 100 associate members, 47 artists from twenty-two states, and exhibitions of 90 prints held at thirty-one venues. Both membership and the society's reputation continued to grow, eventually including over 100 artist members, including prominent names like John Taylor Arms, John Steuart Curry, Clare Leighton, Stow Wengenroth, Luigi Lucioni, Frances Gearhart, and Gene Kloss.

By the 1960s, the society was struggling to maintain its initial spirit. There was greater interest in more progressive art, and most founding artists were dead or no longer active. Art from all across the country had become more accessible to the public not only through such societies, but through art fairs, museums and galleries. The last presentation print was produced and the last exhibitions circulated in 1965. The final decision to disband the society came with the retirement of James Swann, secretary-treasurer for 19 years. What remained in the treasury was used to finance an annual C. A. Seward Memorial Purchase Prize for the Wichita Art Association. The final communication to members was dated July 27, 1966.

Presentation prints

Year Artist Print title Type 1931 Birger Sandzen A Kansas Creek lithograph 1932 Arthur William Hall Stone Bridge in Winter drypoint 1933 Levon West The Prairie Rider etching 1934 Ernest Watson Woodbine linocut 1935 Lloyd C. Foltz Ozark Valley etching 1936 C. A. Seward Adobe Village--New Mexico lithograph 1937 William-Auerbach Levy Job etching 1938 Charles Capps Mexican Barber Shop aquatint 1939 Alfred Hutty Loblolly Pines drypoint 1940 Stow Wengenroth New England Village, Castine, Maine lithograph 1941 Doel Reed Spring aquatint 1942 William J. Dickerson Church at Canyoncito lithograph 1943 Norma Bassett Hall La Gaude--France color woodcut 1944 Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge Soo Chow Canal drypoint 1945 Gene Kloss Southwestern Summer etching and drypoint 1946 Grant Reynard The Pianist etching 1947 Gordon H. Grant Heave and Haul etching 1948 James D. Havens Cinnamon Fern and Verry color woodblock 1949 Leslie Cope Going Home drypoint 1950 Elizabeth Saltonstall Gloxinias lithograph 1951 Ted Hawkins Sleepy Afternoon etching and aquatint 1952 Clare Leighton Corn Pulling wood engraving 1953 James Swann Willow drypoint 1954 Agnes Tait Old Friends lithograph 1955 Luigi Lucioni Themes in White etching 1956 Margaret Ann Gaug Ballerina etching and aquatint 1957 Stow Wengenroth The Far Shore, Ogunquit, Maine lithograph 1958 Walter J. Phillips Waterfall, Lake of the Woods wood engraving 1959 Robert von Neumann Fishing Off the Maine Coast lithograph 1960 Maurice Bebb Breasted Nuthatch color etching 1961 Leo Meissner Tidal Surge wood engraving 1962 Lloyd C. Foltz Ghost Town lithograph 1964 Arthur William Hall Lake Biwa drypoint 1965 Charles Capps Idyl of New Mexico etching and aquatint

Sources North, Bill, Elizabeth Seaton, and Karal Ann Marling. David Conrads and Pamela Evans, editors. The Prairie Print Makers: An Exhibition. Kansas City, Missouri : ExhibitsUSA, Mid-America Arts Alliance, 2001. Print. Czestochowski, Joseph S, and James Swann. James Swann: In Quest of a Printmaker : with Presentation Prints of the Chicago Society of Etchers, Prairie Print Makers, and the Woodcut Society. Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, 1990. Print. (Includes images of all presentation prints) Hotvedt, Steve. "Chapter 15: The Prairie Print Makers 1930-1966" C.A. Hotvedt, Prairie Print Maker, October, 2020 Kansas Historical Society. Kansapedia : Prairie Print Makers Prints North, Cori S. In the Center of It All : 90 Years of the Prairie Print Makers. Lindsborg, Kansas : The Birger Sandzén Memorial Foundation, 2020. O'Neill, Barbara T, George C. Foreman, and Howard W. Ellington. The Prairie Print Makers. Wichita, Kansas: 1984. Print. Wichita State University, University Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives. C. A. Seward and Prairie Print Makers Collection

References

External links A collection of Prairie Print Maker artists' works can be found at the Wichita Art Museum