Untitled from Drawings portfolio

John Philip Hultberg

This is an impression of a lithograph by a young John Hultberg from what was a collaborative effort by six artists who were students at the San Francisco Art Institute and exhibited together as the "Sausalito Six". The project was conceived as an effort to raise money to assist the Seashore Gallery of Modern Art in Sausalito.

The artists worked with offset printer Eric Ledin in Mill Valley, drawing on flexible aluminum and paper plates with grease crayon, the composition being printed in the same direction as the drawing. The artists then glued the prints at the corners (or upper section) to a heavier support paper which was then signed in pencil. Unfortunately a few of the artists used rubber cement to attach the work and they are usually heavily stained and require conservation.

They created a black construction paper cover with a title sheet glued on which reads: "Drawings / Dixon / Diebenkorn / Hultberg / Kuhlman / Lobdell / Stillman / Published by Eric T. Ledin Mill Valley Calif."

A few portfolios were done in an edition of 17: 3 each by Diebenkorn, Lobdell and Stillman, 2 each by Dixon and Kuhlman and Hultberg did 4. One of Hultberg's images was allegedly drawn on the plate with butter and the plate broke down after a few impressions were printed. Most portfolios have 16 images.

By the time it was all together the gallery had closed and they proceeded to try to sell the portfolios for $1.00 each. Sales were slight and they finally used the proceeds for a tequila party.

Most portfolios were broken up, the artists often gifting their prints to friends, and are hard to find complete.

The term for the American movement "Abstract Expressionism" was coined in 1946, making this perhaps the first true "Abstract Expressionist" portfolio in the U.S.