YOUNG AMERICANS, 1968 – 74: ARTIST PROOFS BY FRED GENIS

Featuring prints by American artists Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage, James Rosenquist, Robert Morris, Don Nice and more

September 2 – 30, 2023

This tribute to Master Lithographer Fred Genis, showcases the incredible legacy of work he produced from 1968 to1974 in New York.

During his forty year career, Genis worked with world renowned artists from USA, Europe and Australia, collaborating with a total of eighty artists, leaving a significant international contribution to the fine arts.

A revival of the lithographic art form in America during the late sixties and early seventies saw Genis working as a partner in the Hollanders Workshop in New York. He created works with some great American artists including Robert Rauschenberg, Willem De Kooning, James Rosenquist, Don Nice, John Cage, Robert Morris, to name a few.

Young Americans features key iconic works from Pop art images like James Rosenquist’s Spaghetti, Don Nice’s Big Sneaker and Tootsie Pops prints to John Cage’s collaborative Mushroom Book to Robert Morris’s political anti Vietnam War series.

This is a rare opportunity to view and purchase your own original artworks by some of these great American Artists.

 

Fred Genis (1934 Amersfoort, Netherlands – 2022 Mullumbimby, Australia)

Fred Genis, a Master Lithographer and Dutchman, was the first celebrity printer in Australia.

Genis was a partner in the Hollanders Workshop in New York in the late 60’s, early 70’s, working with artists like Robert Rauschenberg, Willem De Kooning, Sam Francis, Jasper Johns, Larry Rivers and James Rosenquist to name a few. He then set up a workshop in Holland for 7 years and packed up to move his family to Australia setting up a workshop in Sydney in 1979. He printed editions with John Olsen and Tim Storrier, Brett Whitely and Lloyd Rees, to name a few over a period of 30 years until his retirement 2007.

Lithography requires a unique personal collaboration between artist and printer, he described his part in this highly technical process as being ‘like water’ – quiescent, fluid, unformed, but able at any instant to show, suggest, assist or even withhold’.

Genis enjoyed a rich, adventurous and fun life together with his wife, Rina and three daughters. He lived in Possum Creek, New South Wales for 22 years until he passed away in 2022 at age 88.

Fred Genis left a major contribution to the art world through his incredible legacy. Many of the works he printed are held in major collections such as the MOMA in New York, the Tate Modern in London, The National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne and the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, and many, many more.