In many ways, prints take the pulse of modern art. The flowering of techniques early in the 20th century gave artists a wild new freedom of expression, just as their personal opinions and emotions began to move center stage. Prints also reflected the growing democracy of art, the seismic shift that occurred as art moved from the closed world of the wealthy connoisseur and found a broad platform in public galleries. And as affordable works, they appeared in countless offices and homes.
Yet 20th-century print artists may be victims of their own success: Take Andy Warhol, forever trapped in his can of Campbell's soup. Images that were intended for a vast, international market have become commonplace through over-exposure. And prints that were intended to shock have become cozy icons of a time that is safely past.
But a new exhibition of 20th-century prints from Marui department store's collection breathes life into familiar work, and if we leave our blinkers at home, we might be pleasantly surprised. Here, for example, is a wall of Warhol movie stars that at first glance look like the familiar, cynical money-spinners.