Printed: Images by Australian artists 1942-2020 traces the history of printmaking by Australian artists during an era of dramatic changes in Australian society and the visual arts. Arranged in three sections, it begins with the innovative wartime policy initiatives of the Commonwealth. Reconstruction Scheme which laid the groundwork for crucial development in the arts. In this period émigré artists and Australian artists returning home helped established printmaking societies, art galleries and publishers — which underpinned the growing popularity of this most democratic of art forms.
The second section explores the rise of political and social posters, which became one of the most dynamic forms of print practice in the 1970s and 1980s, and prints by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists which have been at the forefront of Australian art since the 1970s. The book's final section discusses the continuing responses by printmakers to key concerns of our time, focusing on the themes of land and identity.
