La Huella Magistral Exhibition Includes A Tribute to El Maestro Ernesto de Soto, the First Mexican American Master Printer in the United States
La Huella Magistral is the current exhibition of the Consejo Gráfico’s impressive artist portfolio that pays tribute to master printmakers. For this exhibition, Mexic-Arte Museumadded artworks from the Permanent Collection that recognize additional master printers. It is fitting to highlight Ernesto de Soto, the first Mexican American Master Printer as well as to recognize his 2005 contribution of over twenty large lithographs to Mexic-Arte Museum from the de Soto Workshop. These works were featured in an exhibition in September 2005 with Maestro de Soto attending. Later in 2006, the collection traveled to the Ben Bailey Art Gallery at Texas A&M University-Kingsville with the assistance of Professors Santa Barraza and Darin Forehand. In 2010, the collection was featured at The Museum of Printing History in Houston. At The Museum of Printing History, de Soto created a black and white lithograph, The Critic, an edition of 60, possibly the last lithograph authored by the master printer/artist.
For many Ernesto de Soto is not a familiar name. For Latino and Latina printmakers and art historians, he is known as the first Mexican American master printer and producer of an impressive series of artworks. Ernest Frank de Soto (October 26, 1923 – December 29, 2014) was a master printer, who specialized in American and Mexican prints during his career. De Soto was the first Master Printer of Mexican descent in the United States. He established and directed his own printing workshop, the de Soto Workshop, for over 27 years. De Soto was also the first American printmaker to establish an international relationship with Mexican artists and had a lasting impact on printing in the United States. Ernest F. de Soto was born in Tucson, Arizona. An eighth-generation Tucsonan, de Soto left home after high school to study at Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles when he was seventeen. While in Los Angeles, de Soto discovered the art of lithography under the master printer, Lynton R. Kistler. He was drafted into the Army Engineers, his background in art landed him work as a camouflage technician. After serving in the South Pacific, de Soto returned to Los Angeles briefly and then used money from the G.I. Bill to fund his studies in Guadalajara, Mexico at the Escuela de Bellas Artes. De Soto also attended the Escuela de Belles Artes in San Miguel de Allende from 1948 to 1949 where he learned fresco painting. While a student in Mexico, de Soto also was an apprentice under David Alfaro Siqueiros, a founder of the Mexican Muralism movement. His education also includes work at a number of other institutions, among them the University of Illinois, Urbana, where he earned a B.F.A. degree in 1961 and the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles. In 1965, he received a grant from the Ford Foundation to work, learn and experiment at Tamarind Lithography Workshop in Los Angeles for two full years. After two years of apprenticeship, he was awarded the title of Master Printer. De Soto states, “A Master Printer is one who has learned every possible way to make a lithograph: how to tackle a problem and solve it. A printmaker should be able to prepare the work in such a way that long editions, sometimes up to 200 can be printed. This requires special skill, especially in lithography, because the higher the number of impressions, the greater the effort and knowledge needed to prepare for a long print run. An artist can print his own work, but a printer-artist as I call him, is, first of all, a printer. He is more skillful than an artist-printer in terms of technical knowledge. The Master Printer also must be inventive in helping the artist to achieve any special effects he wishes, and above all, a Master Printer cannot make mistakes.” De Soto was a Master Printer with virtuoso craftsmanship who worked hand in hand with artists to create hundreds and hundreds of images over fifty years. In 1967, shortly after leaving Tamarind, de Soto became co-founder and Master Printer of Collectors Press Lithography Workshop in San Francisco. In 1972 he became partners of Editions Press with Jose Luis Cuevas. He remained with Collectors Press until the founding of his own shop in 1975, the Ernest F. de Soto Workshop, located in San Francisco. The de Soto Workshop “is known for specializing in contemporary Latin American and American lithographs." Contributions to the Art of Printmaking and Achievements Ernest F. de Soto made significant contributions to the art and craft of printmaking. He played a major role in nurturing and creating long-lasting international relations with artists in other countries. In particular, de Soto created and forged an almost symbiotic reputation with many Mexican artists. De Soto’s interest in Latin America, bilingual ability, and desire to travel, landed him opportunities to create important relationships. Beginning in the late 1960’s de Soto, operated a series of well-known lithography workshops that became very popular with an emerging generation of now world-famous Mexican artists. Based in San Francisco from 1967 to 1993, Collector’s Press Lithography Workshop, Editions Press, and the de Soto Workshop worked with the finest of Mexico’s artists, Jose Luis Cuevas, Alejandro Colunga, Gunther Gerzo, Alfredo Castaneda, Francisco Toledo, Francisco Zuniga and Leonora Carrington, on what has become an important post-war lithography collection. The de Soto Workshop is known for specializing in contemporary Latin American and American lithographs, fine prints, and etching by some of the best-known Latin American and American artists of our time. The de Soto Workshop Collection With over 50 years of experience collaborating with important artists as David Alfaro Siqueiros and Rufino Tamayo among others, the Tucson-based Master Lithographer Ernest F. de Soto created a significant collection and national treasure. de Soto merits national recognition for his contributions to the artistic tradition and craftsmanship of printmaking. As an artist he has contributed to teaching, advocacy, organizing and preserving the once-endangered art of lithography and made a major impact on the artistic tradition of printmaking. Ernest de Soto donated and made accessible this collection to several museums in the United States that will preserve these works. These include the Mexic-Arte Museum, The Mexican Museum, the University Museum of Arizona, Boston Museum, Cleveland Museum Print Club, among others. La Huella Magistral features two works from the de Soto collection printed at his studio and two rare prints created by the Master printer/artist. We invite you to come by and visit the exhibition. Sylvia Orozco Executive Director
Image: Rupert García, The Geometry of Manet and the Sacred Heart II, lithograph, 1990. Gift of Ernesto De Soto.