Hot Printing: The Late Work of Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman
October 9, 2004–January 2, 2005

Williamstown, MA-The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) will feature “Hot Printing: The Late Work of Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman,” an exhibition of rare, hand-printed books, pamphlets, and broadsides created by a little-known, modern Dutch master. This exhibition, including 24 examples of his work primarily from the early 1940s, opens on October 9, 2004 and will be on view until January 2, 2005.

The exhibition focuses on the work that Werkman (1888-1945) created during the German occupation of the Netherlands. Werkman, in collaboration with the Dutch Reformed Church minister F.R.A. Henkels and others in Groningen, founded a literary and spiritual collective called De Blauwe Schuit (The Blue Barge). On behalf of this group, Werkman created beautifully printed works featuring poetry, short religious texts, hymns, and other writings.

Werkman’s idiosyncratic technique, coupled with the tragic destruction of his work by the Nazis, has made his place in graphic design history difficult to assess. Trained as a commercial printer, and the owner of a printing firm, Werkman  took up the practice of using his letterpress for creative expression in the 1920s. The technique he pioneered involved the use of stencils and ink rollers in conjunction with a hand operated letterpress. By merging the two traditionally separate roles of designer and printer he could improvise as he worked—designing as he printed. Despite the small editions he created, often as few as 20, the works were never identical due to the variations inherent in his technique. He described his approach to printing, based on the tension between structure and freedom, as “Hot Printing” acknowledging his love for the “Hot Jazz” that was becoming popular in Europe.

Included in the exhibition as well will be work Werkman created in 1944 for underground groups such as In Agris Occupatis (In an Occupied Land). Though the material was primarily composed of poetry and inspirational texts, these groups operated clandestinely and may have alarmed the Nazi security police. He had also, when working with De Blauwe Schuit, made pamphlets of Martin Buber’s religious texts including the Hasidic Legends, an activity that undoubtedly aligned him with Jews in the minds of the country’s occupiers. Werkman was arrested in March 1945 by the Nazis and executed that April.

“This is a special opportunity to encounter works of art seldom seen in the United States,” notes Associate Director John Stomberg, the exhibition’s curator, “the vivid colors and deeply humanistic themes of the printed works offer a bittersweet counterpoint to the tragic story that lies behind their existence.”

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Publicity Images Available
Publicity images for "Hot Printing: The Late Work of Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman" and other current exhibitions are available. They can be found at www.wcma.org/press.

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