James Todd: Portraits Of Printmakers
January 13 2010 - February 27 2010
MAM is pleased to display an engaging and thought-provoking series of portraits created by Missoula printmaker James Todd. Todd's sequence of portraits is a tribute to influential printmakers throughout history as well as a study of their techniques of expression. Todd selected the printmakers portrayed for their special contributions to the evolution of fine art printmaking, with each portrait including a detail that characterizes the style of the artist. The portraits are presented in chronological order, from Renaissance man Albrecht Durer to wily Dutch master Rembrandt van Rijn, to modernist icons Kathe Kollwitz and Pablo Picasso. Each artwork, executed in Todd's fine and delicate wood-engraving technique, is an objective exploration emphasizing the individual personality and character of the artist.
Todd, a prolific artist in a wide range of mediums, has exhibited his artworks throughout the United States and all over the world from Europe to the People's Republic of China and is currently a member of the Royal Society of Painters and Painters and the Society of Wood Engravers in England. Born in 1937 in Minneapolis, he attended the Chicago Art Institute and University of Chicago before earning his MFA from The University of Montana (UM) in 1969. Todd served as a professor of Art and Humanities at UM from 1970 until his retirement in 1999.