Michael Hale On Sale

In 1957, commercial screenprinter Chris Prater and his wife Rose set up their own business in a tiny space in Kentish Town: Kelpra Studios. Within the period of a decade, they had introduced a mind-boggling array of Britain’s greatest artists to the medium of screenprinting. Like the Wizard of Oz orchestrating proceedings from behind his curtain, Prater collaborated with them all to the highest degree, succeeding — virtually single-handedly as it is now recognized — in elevating the medium to an accepted art form within the eyes of even our most traditional institutions. Early converts included Eduardo Paolozzi and Richard Hamilton, the latter instigating the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) sponsorship and exhibition of a portfolio of prints in 1964. The 24 artists who were introduced to screenprinting as a result included Gillian Ayres, Patrick Caulfield, Peter Blake, Bernard Cohen, Robyn Denny, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, Allen Jones, R.B. Kitaj, Victor Pasmore, Peter Phillips, Bridget Riley and William Turnbull. These artists (and many more, including John Piper, who became a long-term acolyte), continued to collaborate with Prater and incorporated screenprinting fully into their oeuvre, producing works equally as important, acclaimed and collectible as their paintings. 

In 1980 the Praters gifted their collection of printer’s proofs (a copy of every print they had ever worked on) to Tate, securing their legacy for the enjoyment of the public and ensuring that this fascinating and important chapter in the history of British art would not be forgotten. Mike Hale could perhaps be considered something of a "lost" figure within this movement. Hale was, nonetheless, a pioneering screenprinter. And indeed, he worked as a master printing technician at Kelpra Studios for a time, before going on to teach at the Leicester College of Art where his meticulous approach influenced a new generation of artists working in the medium which, by the early 1960s, had exploded in popularity.

Beginning in the early 20th century, abstract art became a leading style of modernism. Rather than portray the world in a way that represented reality, as had been the dominating style of Western art in the previous centuries, abstract paintings, prints and sculptures are marked by a shift to geometric forms, gestural shapes and experimentation with color to express ideas, subject matter and scenes.

Although abstract art flourished in the early 1900s, propelled by movements like Fauvism and Cubism, it was rooted in the 19th century. In the 1840s, J.M.W. Turner emphasized light and motion for atmospheric paintings in which concrete details were blurred, and Paul Cézanne challenged traditional expectations of perspective in the 1890s.

Some of the earliest abstract artists — Wassily Kandinsky and Hilma af Klint — expanded on these breakthroughs while using vivid colors and forms to channel spiritual concepts. Painter Piet Mondrian, a Dutch pioneer of the art movement, explored geometric abstraction partly owing to his belief in Theosophy, which is grounded in a search for higher spiritual truths and embraces philosophers of the Renaissance period and medieval mystics. Black Square, a daringly simple 1913 work by Russian artist Kazimir Malevich, was a watershed statement on creating art that was free “from the dead weight of the real world,” as he later wrote.

Surrealism in the 1920s, led by artists such as Salvador Dalí, Meret Oppenheim and others, saw painters creating abstract pieces in order to connect to the subconscious. When Abstract Expressionism emerged in New York during the mid-20th century, it similarly centered on the process of creation, in which Helen Frankenthaler’s expressive “soak-stain” technique, Jackson Pollock’s drips of paint, and Mark Rothko’s planes of color were a radical new type of abstraction.

Conceptual art, Pop art, Hard-Edge painting and many other movements offered fresh approaches to abstraction that continued into the 21st century, with major contemporary artists now exploring it, including Anish Kapoor, Mark Bradford, El Anatsui and Julie Mehretu.

Find original abstract paintings, sculptures, prints and other art on 1stDibs.

Explore a vast range of abstract prints on 1stDibs to find a piece to enhance your existing collection or transform a space.

Unlike figurative paintings and other figurative art, which focuses on realism and representational perspectives, abstract art concentrates on visual interpretation. An artist may use a single color or simple geometric forms to create a world of depth. Printmaking has a rich history of abstraction. Through materials like stone, metal, wood and wax, an image can be transferred from one surface to another.

During the 19th century, iconic artists, including Edvard Munch, Paul Cézanne, Georgiana Houghton and others, began exploring works based on shapes and colors. This was a departure from the academic conventions of European painting and would influence the rise of 20th-century abstraction and its pioneers, like Pablo Picasso and Piet Mondrian.

Some leaders of European abstraction, including Franz Kline, were influenced by the gestural shapes of East Asian calligraphy. Calligraphy interprets poetry, songs, symbols or other means of storytelling into art, from works on paper in Japan to elements of Islamic architecture.

Bold, daring and expressive, abstract art is constantly evolving and dazzling viewers. And entire genres have blossomed from it, such as Color Field painting and Minimalism.

The collection of abstract art prints on 1stDibs includes etchings, lithographs, screen-prints and other works, and you can find prints by artists such as Joan Miró, Alexander Calder and more.