Ashley D. West, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University
Brittany Rubin, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Temple University
This APS-sponsored panel seeks contributions examining early modern print production between two or more hands, and the complex works that result from such collaborations, from c. 1450-1700. Print production has often involved multiple people reflecting distinct specializations: early modern woodcuts were usually designed by a draftsman, cut by Formschneiders, and printed by a publisher. The signatures invenit, sculpsit, fecit, excudit, delineate a work’s multilayered phases and temporalities of production and authorship, from inspiration to resulting image. Matrices themselves were sold, traded, and repurposed, resulting in unforeseen or delayed “collaborations,” such as with Rembrandt’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt, partially altered from Hercules Seghers’ Tobias and the Angel plate. We aim to complicate the notion of singular artistic authorship in the history of print by examining early modern production structures established within the confines of a workshop, as well as less official forms of “collaboration.” Potential topics could include:
- Early modern cross-disciplinary collaborations, including between artists and
poets, antiquarians, or scholars of the natural sciences. - Unplanned partnerships: how were matrices or resulting impressions altered,
collaborated upon, or renewed and edited ex post facto by other artists or
printers? How does necessity or circumstance—including modifying damaged
matrices or altering imagery to avoid censorship—provide the opportunity for an
unforeseen collaboration between two or more artists or artisans? - Cross-cultural collaborations across geographies: how did the affordances of
durability/ephemerality, scale, and portability of matrices and paper provide
opportunities for artists and makers from different countries, cultural identities, or
religious confessions to shape works for different audiences? - Prints that provided an outlet for two or more artists to explore fantastical or
taboo subjects.
Participants must be current RSA and Association of Print Scholars (APS) members at the time of the conference.
Please submit your 200-word abstract and a 2-page CV to brittany.rubin@temple.edu and ashley.west@temple.edu by 19 July 2026.