Print workshop and publisher specializing in lithography, intaglio (1966 and later), offset lithography (1969 and later), woodcut (after 1973), screenprint (1980s and later), and photogravure (1980s and later)
What matters is that the print be alive, with the heartbeat of the artist in it...
Tatyana Grosman (born Aguschewitsch, 1904-1982) (a Russian immigrant who had not only fled the Russian Revolution in 1918 with her family, but also narrowly escaped
the Nazis while living in France in 1940 with her husband) founded Universal Limited Art Editions in 1957 out of the need to support the household when her husband, Maurice, an artist, suffered a heart attack. Grosman, who had trained at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, began publishing illustrated books. By chance, the Grosmans discovered two Bavarian lithographic stones in their front yard (used as stepping stones in her garden) on Long Island, and after learning how to use a press, Grosman sought to collaborate with artists instead of printing reproductions.
Grosman's first collaboration was with Larry Rivers and poet Frank O'Hara. Artist and printer Robert Blackburn printed River's lithographs on a $15 press in the Grossman living room. The resultant work, "Stones" took two years to produce and was published in 1959. Rivers wanted to further experiment and ULAE moved to a more appropriate setting, a nearby garage. Word spread through the avant-garde artist circles about the small Long Island press- Grosman was able to select and i
nvite several of these artists to ULAE, including Jasper Johns (who made more than 100 lithographs at the workshop alone) and Robert Rauschenberg. ULAE became a place known internationally for expertise, experimentation, and unexpected but brilliant outcomes. Only seven years after the Rivers collaboration, 97 of ULAE publications were chosen to inaugurate the new graphics gallery at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
As ULAE began to work with more artists and garner more attention (Grosman received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1966), the workshop expanded to include an intaglio studio. Donn Steward, who had worked with Mauricio Lansansky at the University of Iowa, began etching operations at ULAE and collaborated with artists such as Lee Bontecou, Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, and Robert Motherwell.
Since Grosman's death in 1982, ULAE has been managed by long-time printer Bill Goldston, who has heralded ULAE into a new age by bringing new artists and techniques into the fold. The extensive list of artists who ULAE have worked with is on their website.
ULAE has remained an intimate workshop, despite its international fame. Grosman's attitude and passion for her work was the recipe for her success: "'Technique' should never ne a predominant feeling in a print. What matters is that the print be alive, with the heartbeat of the artist in it... It must not be rushed." 1
Printers associated with ULAE: Robert Blackburn (1957-1962), Donn Steward, Zigmunds Priede, Ben Burns, Fred Genis, Frank Akers, Bill Goldston, John Lund
Resources:
1) Calvin Tomkins, "The Moods of a Stone," Profiles, The New Yorker, June 7, 1976, page 76.
Una E. Johnson. American Prints and Printmakers. New York: Doubleday, 1980.
Esther Sparks. Universal Limited Art Editions: A History and Catalogue : The First Twenty-Five Years. New York: Abrams, 1989.
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