Light in the paper

James Turrell is probably known to many as the creator of atmospheric light installations that can be seen all over the world. Less well known, however, are his prints. The Graphic Collection of the ETH Library in Zurich is now dedicating an exhibition to them.

The American land art artist James Turrell (*1943) is one of the most important contemporary artists. His works can be seen all over the world, from his permanent project “Roden Crater” in the Arizona desert to the chapel he designed in the Freising Diocesan Museum and the series “Skyspace”, which can be found in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, among other places. However, it is not only in his light-space installations that he deals with the theme of the flow and fall of light, but also in his graphic work, as the exhibition in the Graphic Collection of the ETH Zurich proves.

Although light has always played a role for artists, it has mostly served as a design element. Since the 20th century, light alone has played the main role. Turrell uses it in a radical way when he creates entire installations based solely on light. He has been using it as an element of his art since 1966. In 1984, at the suggestion of the publisher Peter Blum, he created his first prints. The practical realization of the prints took place in partnership with the Zurich copperplate printer Peter Kneubühler (1944-1999), and a friendship developed from this long collaboration. Between 1984 and 1991, Turrell regularly traveled to Switzerland to produce prints with Kneubühler. In his etchings, which he produced using aquatint, he dispensed with lines as a stylistic device. This resulted in various finely nuanced areas in shades of gray. He succeeds in making light appear even in two-dimensional space. Works such as “West Chamber” bear witness to how light can also be depicted with a limited palette of colors that oscillates between black, white and grey.

The ETH Library’s Prints and Drawings Department owns over 150 prints by the American artist. In 2008, proofs and various states were added to the collection, including works from the estate of the Peter Kneubühler Foundation. Some of the works in the Prints and Drawings Department were created in conjunction with three-dimensional works by the artist. Examples include the “First Light” series and “Roden Crater”. The work “First Light” was created between 1989 and 1990 and already refers to light in its title. The “Roden Crater” project, on the other hand, has occupied the artist for decades. The perceptual art project traverses an extinct volcano in the Arizona desert. A series of this work, created in 1985, is also on display. Although these works are thematically related to the three-dimensional works, they can also be seen as independent works. In addition to the prints, sketches that Turrell made for them are also on display. With the help of these sketches, it is possible to understand how the artist conceived his aquatint sheets.

In his works, the artist Turrell creates interfaces between different disciplines. The trained psychologist and mathematician succeeds in combining architecture, land art, astronomy, aerospace, physics, geosciences, medicine, perceptual psychology and mysticism. This multi-perspectivity is also at the heart of the exhibition in the Graphic Collection in the ETH Library in Zurich. This gives the viewer a new and interesting perspective on the artist’s multi-layered graphic work. It also offers unexpected insights. The exhibition, conceived by Dr. Linda Schädler and Adrian Hug, will be accompanied by a symposium taking place on November 5 and 6, 2024. The results of the symposium will be published in a volume next year with the support of the Doris and Thomas Amman Foundation.

Further information

The exhibition “Light in Paper. The Prints of James Turrell” at ETH Zurich’s Department of Prints and Drawings is open daily from August 21 to November 10, 2024, with free admission from 10 am to 5 pm. The exhibition is closed on September 9, 2024 and November 8, 2024.