Stanley William Hayter

1901-1988

British (Europe, England, France, London, Paris)

British artist is associated with Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism. He is regarded as one of the most innovative printmakers of the 20th century, particularly in regard to his development of intaglio and color printmaking techniques, on which he published guides. Born to a family of artists, he studied chemistry and geology and worked in the Middle East from 1922-1925 for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, but decided to abandon this career for art. He settled in Paris in 1926 and in 1927 he founded a print shop in Paris with Joseph Hecht. The shop became known as Atelier 17, (called Atelier Contrepoint after Hayter's death in 1988). He worked there with many artists of the time, including Miró, Arp, Tanguy, Giacometti, Matta, Brauner, Kandinsky, Alechinsky, and André Masson, with whom he explored automatic drawing. Between 1933 and 1950, Hayter relocated to New York where he was in contact with other European and American painters, including Pollock, Rothko, Motherwell, and Gorky.