Why was Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 important for experimental printmaking?

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Mary Cassatt: Woman Bathing — Printmaking *Woman Bathing*, color aquatint with drypoint by Mary Cassatt, 1890–91; in the Art Institute of Chicago.

Stanley William Hayter’s Atelier 17 is widely recognized as the most influential printmaking workshop of the 20th century. Its importance stems from its role as a collaborative hub for avant-garde artists, including Marc Chagall, Max Ernst, Joan Miró, and Pablo Picasso.1

The studio was instrumental in fostering experimental approaches to engraving and other print techniques. Hayter’s pedagogical approach emphasized automatism and the exploration of the unconscious, which significantly influenced both European modernists and American artists such as Jackson Pollock. By relocating between Paris and New York City, Atelier 17 served as a vital bridge for artistic exchange, formalizing innovative methods that Hayter later documented in his seminal text, New Ways of Gravure.1