Fine Art prints have gone through periods of great creativity, advancement in technique, and multiple renaissances since their beginnings in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Few institutions in the last 50 odd years in the United States have had a greater impact on the production of prints as works of art than the Graphic Chemical and Ink Company. Founded in 1920 by Robert P. Faulkner at 535 N. Dearborn, Chicago and now at 728 N. Yale Avenue, Villa Park, Illinois, Graphic Chemical and Ink Company has been the major supplier of printmaking supplies and equipment since World War II to artists and to art students in the United States, and the company also now distributes in Canada and much of Western Europe. The first art print that Mr. Faulkner received at the company came in the early 1930s during the Depression when an artist offered to send a print in return for a pound of ink. The trade was made, a drypoint of an Indian was sent to the company and the artist continued to work until he retired at age 94 well after the Depression.

One of the sources for the post-World War II American print revival was the university-based print class. Gabor Peterdi at Yale, Mauricio Lasansky at Iowa, Vera Berdich at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Warrington Colescott at the University of Wisconsin were among a number of master printmakers who began teaching a new generation of art students about the print as an art form. At this same time in 1947-48 Vernon Clark joined the family business and began advertising Graphic Chemical and Ink Company's services in American Artist Magazine. The result was expansion into the growing clientele of the University Art Departments and the fine art market. Besides supplying needed materials, the family sponsored countless print awards to exhibitions beginning in 1948 and subsequently received prints from these exhibitions, from artist friends, from clients simply showing their thanks for the Clark family's support, and from personal purchases.

This exhibition about the fine art print is drawn from the extensive Clark Family Collection and would have been impossible without the unrestricted access to those prints given by Dean Clark, grandson of Robert P. Faulkner and present C.E.O. of Graphic Chemical and Ink Company, Susan Clark , Dean's wife and remarkable source of knowledge about artists and prints, their family and the staff of G.C.&I. who put up with my crawling over desks and going through print drawers to study and photograph the prints. Thanks also go to Patrick Flaherty and Julie Moore of the Indianapolis Art Center. Patrick has a keen eye and knowledge of prints and Julie Moore who worked to make this exhibition happen. I also wish to thank my wife, Autumn, who recorded, helped edit and supported this project through many long hours.