Art of Paper

The Asheville Art Museum is proud to announce the opening of The Art of Paper Selections of Handmade Paper Works from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, a captivating new exhibition that explores the boundless creative possibilities of one of the world’s most humble yet transformative materials. Bringing together innovative works from contemporary artists, this exhibition highlights paper not only as a medium, but as a powerful vehicle for storytelling, and conceptual expression. The exhibition invites visitors to experience the extraordinary ways artists manipulate, challenge, and redefine paper, turning the familiar into the unexpected.

Curated by Brett Littman with Susan Gosin and Cynthia Nourse Thompson, the exhibition features 66 works by leading artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Helen Frankenthaler, James Rosenquist, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns, Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon and others who have redefined handmade paper as an expressive artistic medium.

The thoughtful selection of works chronicles the pioneering achievements within the discipline and reveals how the field of handmade paper art was a natural advancement of and response to the historic relationship between print and paper.

Drawn exclusively from the renowned collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, the exhibition highlights the inventive intersections of papermaking, printmaking and collaborative artistic practice.

At the core of The Art of Paper is an examination of the rich collaborative relationships between artists and master papermakers — relationships that have propelled the medium forward and expanded the boundaries of contemporary art.

“This exhibition seeks to illuminate how sophisticated developments in hand papermaking were occurring in tandem with technical advances in fine printmaking, said ARTnews Top 200 Collector, Jordan Schnitzer. “The partnerships between artists and professional studios, as well as the synergy of paper and print collaboration, continue to grow today.”

The exhibition includes exceptional works produced in partnership with many of the nation’s most innovative studios and publishers, including The Brodsky Center at PAFA, Experimental Workshop (Garner Tullis), Gemini G.E.L., Magnolia Editions, Mixografia, Pace Editions, Shark’s Ink, Tandem Press, Two Palms, Tyler Graphics, and Universal Limited Art Editions, alongside seminal works from the pioneering New York papermaking studio Dieu Donné, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Professional museums and studios that introduce artists to the medium of hand papermaking play a crucial role in fostering an environment where they can create works that are technically and conceptually diverse, innovative and consistently flawless in craftsmanship. This collaborative relationship between artists and master papermakers is a central focus of the exhibition.