Art on Paper

The magazine was founded in New York City in 1970 as The Print Collectors Newsletter[1] by Paul Cummings,[2] with Judith Goldman as editor. Within a year, Cummings sold it to Jacqueline Brody, who continued to publish it until 1996.

From the start, the title The Print Collectors Newsletter, was a misnomer. The newsletter covered artists' prints from the Renaissance to the present, but it also published on artists' books, multiples, ephemera and photography. An issue typically included a feature story or interview, industry news, reviews of recently released prints or photographs, auction reports, and book reviews. Contributors included Holland Cotter, Richard S. Field, Nancy Princenthal, Susan Tallman, Larry Qualls and others.

In 1996, Gabriella Fanning, the former editor of the art magazine Contemporanea, purchased The Print Collectors Newsletter. She changed the name to On Paper, converted it to a journal format and expanded its coverage to include drawings. In 1998, she changed its title and format again, this time to a full-color glossy magazine titled Art on Paper. Faye Hirsch, later Senior Editor at Art in America, acted as Editor-in-Chief. The magazine ran into financial problems in the early 2000 and almost went out of businesses.

Fanning sold the title in 2004 to Darte Publishing LLC, a company established by the magazine's then editor, Peter Nesbett, and two partners, Sarah Andress, and Shelly Bancroft. Under Nesbett's control, the magazine gained a new vitality, and its editorial content focused primarily on contemporary editions, multiples, and ephemera. It exhibited annually at Art Basel in Switzerland, Art Basel Miami Beach, Nada Miami Beach, The Armory Show, and elsewhere. Among the writers contributing at the time were Brian Dillon, Joanna Fiduccia, Klaus Kertess, Sharon Mizota, Lyle Rexer, and others. Larry Qualls write a bi-monthly column on titled "Between the Sheets." For years the magazine also ran a comprehensive "annual print review"—introducing new editions and artist multiples from around the world.

In 2007, Art on Paper published the book Letters to a Young Artist. For it, established artists were commission to write letters to a fictional young artist who had recently relocated to New York City and was struggling with the question of whether it was possible to maintain one's integrity and still participate in the art world. The contributions included John Baldessari, Jimmie Durham, Joan Jonas, Alex Katz, Kerrie James Marshall, Adrian Piper, William PopeL, Richard Tuttle, and others. Two years later it followed with Diaries of a Young Artist, which contained commissioned diary entries by artists in their thirties whose careers were taking off. They included Ellen Altfest, Simon Evans, Ryan Gander, Katy Grannan, Pablo Helguera, Nina Katchadourian, Terence Koh, Sterling Ruby, Zoe Strauss, and others. Both books went through multiple printings and became standard educational texts.

During this period, Art on Paper also initiated the popular annual "artonpaper talks" at the Editions and Artists Book Fair (E|AB Fair), then run by I.C. Editions and Brooke Alexander Editions. Speakers included Esopus Magazine, John Giorno, Kayrock Printing, Jill Magid, Gregory Scholette, The Thing Quarterly, Visionaire Magazine, and others.

Art on Paper ceased publication in December 2009, having lost 60% of its advertising base in the Great Recession.[2]

Art on Paper had no relationship with the Art on Paper art fair, the magazine Art Papers in Atlanta, or the nonprofit, online print journal Art in Print.

• Art in Print