History of Kenneth Tyler

Kenneth Tyler was a progressive force in the world of art. His workshops in Los Angeles, Gemini Ltd. (1965) and Gemini GEL (1966-1973) and later in New York State with Tyler Workshop (1973) and Tyler Graphics Ltd. (1974-2001) pushed the artistic and technical boundaries of printmaking and papermaking: Rather than limiting an artist’s vision to the constraints of traditional printmaking, his aim was to expand printmaking to match the vision of the artist.

Having begun his printmaking career in 1963 at Tamarind Lithography, an institute whose aim was to revive the dwindling practice of lithography in the United States, Tyler recognized that the artform’s restrictive traditions were at odds with the aims of modern art. He believed that technological innovation and experimentation in printmaking could elevate the field. Over the course of his career, Tyler worked with notable artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Frank Stella, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg and embarked on ambitious career defining projects with them. From creating some of the largest and most complex prints in history, to experimenting in the field of papermaking, Tyler initiated collaborative ways of working and created new technologies that expanded the possibilities of printmaking.