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Steven Sorman

  • About
  • Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection
  • Chronology
  • Further Reading

Black and white photograph of Steven Sorman

Steven Sorman in the studio at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York, 1996
Gift of Kenneth Tyler 2002
Photographer: Malcolm Lubliner

Steven Sorman was born in Minneapolis in 1948. An accomplished painter and printmaker, he began working with Kenneth Tyler at Tyler Graphics in 1984 on a series of collaged prints and monoprints that combined etching, woodcut, drypoint and lithography. Sorman, whose prints are often characterised by the use of unique papers, thrived upon the possibilities offered by the Tyler Graphics paper mill.

He used specialised papers not only as the support for his printed imagery, but also as collaged compositional elements. The resultant works, many of which feature in the Kenneth Tyler Collection, are richly textured and have a painterly effect.

Emilie Owens

Works in the Kenneth E. Tyler Collection


  • Steven Sorman

    From away
    1988

  • Steven Sorman

    Lessons from the Russian
    1999

  • Steven Sorman

    Trees like men walking
    1985

Browse all works by Steven Sorman

Chronology


1948 Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America

1970 First solo exhibition, Coffman Gallery, University of Minnesota

1971 Receives Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

1974–79 Teaches at Minneapolis College of Art and Design

1975 Included in Biennial exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1978 Completes print Spaces between words a deaf mute sees at Vermillion Editions Ltd., Minneapolis, which receives merit award in 1980 exhibition, World print III, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, California

1979 Receives Minnesota State Arts Board and Bush Foundation grants; included in International biennial of graphic art, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia

1982 Receives Rockefeller Foundation Studio Fellowship, Paris, France

1983 Included in exhibition, The American artist as printmaker: the 23rd annual print exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York City

1984 Completes nine editioned and twenty unique monoprints as well as 14 unique collages assembled from monoprint impressions and painted materials, made at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York; included in exhibition, Prints from Tyler Graphics at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; included in British international print biennial, Bradford, England; Impressions: experimental prints, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond

1985 Completes second group of mixed‑media monoprints edition prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: printer extraordinary, at Australian National Gallery, Canberra (now National Gallery of Australia)

1986 Included in exhibition, Public and private: American prints today, at 24th National Print Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, New York City

1988 Completes From away mixed-media folding screen at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in exhibition, The Combination print: 1980s, New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit

1989 Completes Those from away series of prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; solo exhibition, Vignette: prints by Steven Sorman, at University of Missouri‑Kansas City Gallery of Art; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: 25 glorious years, Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden

1989–90 Included in travelling exhibition, First impressions: early prints by forty-six contemporary artists, originating at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Mind & matter: new American abstraction, organised by World Print Council

1991 Completes Half light series, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; travelling retrospective exhibition, Steven Sorman: Up to now, 1974–1990, at St Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota; included in The Bhrat Bharan international biennial of prints, Roopankar Museum of Fine Arts, Bhopol, India; Fifth international biennial print exhibit, Taipei, Republic of China

1992 Completes The long year series of mixed-media, hand-coloured prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in travelling exhibition Innovation in collaborative printmaking: Kenneth Tyler 1963–1992, originating at Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan

1993 Completes Rumors of virtue, a series of 73 monotype, collage prints on layered handmade Japanese papers, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; exhibition at Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden; included in 20th international print biennial, International Center of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1994 Completes Santos-Santeros, a series of mixed-media prints, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York

1995 Completes the edition Wind shift, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in exhibition, Scene at place and time, The Print Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1997 Included in exhibitions, Beyond print: masterworks from the Ken Tyler Collection, Dr Earl Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore; Singular impressions (The monotype in America), National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC; A thought intercepted, California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa; Printed abstraction: prints from the Tyler Graphics archive collection, Center for Contemporary Art and Tyler Graphics Archive Collection, Fukushima, Japan

1998 Completes Inside weather and Difference in ages series of prints and monoprints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: printmaker emeritus, Southern Graphics Council Conference, Ohio University, Athens

1999 Completes editions of Change of heart and Each way, as well as an artist book, Lessons from the Russian, illuminating three poems by Lee Blessing, at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York. Steven Sorman currently lives and works in Ancram, New York

Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd., revised Kate Buckingham, 2006
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.

Further Reading


EXHIBITIONS

  • Behind the Scenes: Tyler Graphics at work, 2015–16
  • Ken Tyler: Printer extraordinary, 6 June – 13 October 1985

VIDEO

  • Steven Sorman

NATIONAL GALLERY PUBLICATIONS

  • Workshop: The Kenneth Tyler Collection, Jane Kinsman (ed.), 2015
  • Ken Tyler Printer Extraordinary, 1985

TYLER GRAPHICS PUBLICATIONS

  • Lessons from the Russian, 1999
  • inside weather, 1998
  • rumors of virtue, 1993
  • Walking Through, Tyler Graphics Ltd. March 1990
  • Vignette, 1989
  • Edition and Monoprint Collage Series, 1985
  • Monoprint Collage Series, 1984

Related


The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Film launch! Kenneth Tyler: The Art of Collaboration

A photo taken from above of a man operating a hydraulic lithography press

The film documents Kenneth Tyler’s life and work from childhood, through his training to become a master printer.

Read Time 3 minutes

Artists

A woman in a room looking at artwork on a wall

Kenneth Tyler collaborated with leading artists working in America in the post Second World War era. He also mentored emerging artists.

Exhibition

Print by Print, Step by Step
Artists' Prints in Series

Past Exhibition

9 Mar 1985 - 2 Jun 1985

The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Installing ‘Frank Stella: The Kenneth Tyler Print Collection’

Photograph of Frank Stella: The Kenneth E. Tyler Print Collection at the Orde Poyton Gallery

A comprehensive inside look at Frank Stella: The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection

Read Time 4 minutes

Kenneth Price

Black and white portrait photo of Kenneth Price

One of 77 artists who collaborated with master printer Kenneth Tyler.

Exhibition

Hockney Masterworks in Paint / Stella & Tyler Masterworks in Print

Past Exhibition

14 Oct 1999—26 Jan 2000

Yuuma, Gurruburri

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