Louis Conrad Rosenberg On Sale

Architect and printmaker, Louis Conrad Rosenberg was born in Portland, Oregon. The recipient of a scholarship awarded by the Architectural Club of Portland, Rosenberg attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Graduating in 1914, Rosenberg was granted a traveling fellowship in architecture and after the war he traveled throughout England, Europe, the Near East and Northern Africa, creating thousands of sketches. Rosenberg began his first experiments in etching while studying at the American Academy in Rome, in 1921, and has given an exhibition there. His prints came to the attention of Muirhead Bone, who looked him up during a visit to New York and suggested that he pursue etching more seriously. Soon after that meeting, Rosenberg entered the school of engraving at the Royal College of Art in London, making 20 distinguished plates in a year and launching his career as a printmaker. On his return to the United States, he took up a teaching position in architectural design at the University of Oregon. Etching for the American Etchers Series, he was commissioned to render the existing sites, new structures and demolitions of the Cleveland Railroad Terminal. In 1930, Rosenberg undertook a similar commission for the Cincinnati Union Terminal that produced some of his finest work. In 1946, he joined the New York architectural firm of Sawyer and York and remained there until retiring. Widely respected for his impeccable drypoint technique, flawless composition and sensitive architectural renderings, Rosenberg was the recipient of many medals and awards. He was an emeritus member of the American Institute of Design and senior fellow in the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers. Rosenberg was also a member of the Brooklyn Society of Etchers, Chicago Society of Etchers, Philadelphia Society of Etchers and Engravers Associates and the Chelsea Arts Club, London. Rosenberg received a silver medal from the Printmakers Society of California, 1924.

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

Find fine art prints for sale on 1stDibs today.