10/01/2026
Detroit native Ron Adams, revered for his dynamic portraits of working-class African Americans, created this homage to his friend, renowned printmaker Robert Blackburn, in 2002. The print depicts Blackburn at his lithography press and is a detailed portrait of the artist and their studio: a collector viewing works in the background, tools of the trade ready at hand, the city scape in the distance, and the artist's focused attention on their work. Robert Blackburn (1920‒2003) was one of the most collaborative and influential printmakers of the 20th century. In 1947 he opened his own studio in New York and famously fostered a community of diverse artists such as Romare Bearden, Grace Hartigan, Stanley William Hayter, and Jasper Johns.
Born in 1934, printmaker Ron Adams is a native of Detroit, Michigan where he attended Northwestern High School. In the early 1950s, he moved to Los Angeles, California for his undergrad and graduate studies. After school, he worked as a master printer at Gemini G.E.L. studio in Los Angeles. He started his own printmaking studio, Hand Graphics, Ltd., in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the mid-1970s. As a master printmaker, he collaborated with celebrated artists such as Jasper Johns, Fritz Scholder, John Biggers, and Charles White. Later in life he retired in Atlanta, Georgia.
Adams taught art at several colleges and universities, and served as a juror for several invitational exhibitions. His work is represented in public and private collections, including the Albuquerque Museum (NM), the Bronx Museum (NY), the California Afro-American Museum (CA), the Museum of Fine Arts (NM), Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC).
Image: Ron Adams, “Robert Blackburn”, 2002, Lithograph, 24 1/2 in. x 34 1/2 in. © Ron Adams
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See this artwork and more at MW Gallery in Flint, MI, as part of the exhibition "In the Eye of the Beholder", on view now through January 23, 2027, celebrating the artworks which invite viewers to explore personal and shared perceptions of beauty, belonging, and connection. Details on m-wc.org
