Art imprimé

Contemporary prints

The Triennial of Contemporary Prints presents printed work in different styles and techniques, ranging from abstract to figurative art, from minimalism to realism, and from the techniques of classical engraving to hybrid procedures. The exhibition and its catalogue provide an overview of the international state of these different fields while at the same time suggesting the direction the art of tomorrow might take. Prints have always attracted artists throughout history and the Museum of Fine Arts in Le Locle follows developments in this field particularly closely. Founded in 1862, the museum began to concentrate on prints in the 1950s, holding exhibitions of engravings by French artists of the late 19th and first half of the 20th century. About twenty years ago, the range was expanded to include contemporary works and a triennial print competition was inaugurated in 1992.

In 2015, the Museum of Fine Arts will hold the 8th Triennial of Contemporary Prints, bringing together twenty contemporary artists selected by an international panel of experts in contemporary art.

Reliant as it is on the use of traditional techniques that require a certain amount of technology and the skills to use it properly, printed art (lithographs, serigraphs, photogravure, etc.) is now expanding into mixed media (digital prints) to accommodate contemporary aesthetic sensibility.

Nathalie Herschdorfer is a curator and art historian specialising in photography. At present she is director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Le Locle.
Alexandra Barcal is an art historian and has been curator of the collection of 20th-and 21st-century prints and drawings of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Switzerland) since 2007.
Marc-Olivier Wahler is an independent international auctioneer, art critic, and art historian. He is the author of numerous books and essays.