This exhibition comprises 84 prints by 21 artists selected from the rich reserves of graphic art in the British Council Collection.
Featuring prints from the decade 1961-1972, the exhibition concentrates on what was something of a boom period in British printmaking. This was in large part due to the rise in the status of screen printing as a fine art medium. With its facility for printing large areas of solid colour, combined with the recent advances made in the development of photo-printmaking techniques, screen printing lent itself to a wide range of imagery and was eagerly taken up by both established and emerging artists of the time. The exhibition title pays homage to Eduardo Paolozzi's suite of 12 screen prints, As is When, published in 1965, which has been referred to as 'the first masterpiece of the medium'.
In addition to screen prints, the exhibition includes etchings and lithographs and features a number of innovative prints which explored the use of new materials.  Included are three of the first editioned screen prints on perspex from the Fragments series of 1965 by Bridget Riley, three screen prints on Acetate from Joe Tilson's Clip-O-Matic series of 1967-69, and three of Richard Hamilton's vacuum formed Guggenheim relief multiples from 1970.
Artists featured in the exhibition:
Clive Barker, Peter Blake, Derek Boshier, Patrick Caulfield, Bernard Cohen, Harold Cohen, Robyn Denny, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Gordon House, John Hoyland, Allen Jones, R.B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi, Peter Phillips, Bridget Riley, Peter Sedgley, Colin Self, Richard Smith, Joe Tilson.

Date:

15 December 2004 - 7 February 2005

Venue:    Rome

Calcografia, Via della Stamperia 6

Information:

British Council Press Office: Gabriella Facondo, tel. 47814285
Press Office Istituto Nazionale della Grafica: Marcella Ghio, tel. 06 69980238
Press Office Exhibition: Roberto Begnini, tel. 06 69190880