Explores the pivotal role of Studio Prints, London, in the resurgence of printmaking during the 1970s and 1980s

Dorothea Wight (1944–2013) founded Studio Prints in Kentish Town, London, in 1968. Marc Balakjian (1940–2017), an artist and printmaker of Armenian origins, joined it in 1974. They married in 1977 and, for over forty years, pursued their own artistic careers while also pulling prints for other artists. Thanks to their exceptional skills as master printmakers and to the sensibility with which they interpreted other artists’ ideas and intentions, Dorothea and Marc emerged as leading printers for prominent artists like Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, Leon Kossoff, Paula Rego, Celia Paul, Kitaj, Stephen Conroy, Ken Kiff and many others, establishing close friendships and mutual relationships of trust and esteem. 

Using previously unpublished archival records and a substantial corpus of works by the above-mentioned artists, a group of distinguished contributors to the book provide insights into a thriving and pioneering season of artistic production in London and reveal a relatively unrecognised but hugely influential hub of artistic production.

Exhibition Schedule 

The Courtauld Gallery, London 

6 June–13 September 2026 

Published by Paul Holberton Publishing/Distributed by Yale University Press