Prints have been an integral part of the Museum since its inception in 1929, with eight prints being among the very first works to enter the collection. Today, the department's holdings have grown to include more than 53,000 works dating from the 1880s to the present, forming the most comprehensive collection of modern and contemporary prints and illustrated books in the world. While traditional techniques such as woodcut, etching, lithography, and screenprint form the core of the collection, newer digital processes, multiples, and artist's books are also collected in breadth and depth. The important role of printmaking in artists' creative process is reflected in the inclusion of numerous states and working proofs, comprising one of the unique strengths of the collection.

The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Print Room

Online Exhibitions and Projects

• German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
• Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now
• Picasso: Themes and Variations
• William Kentridge: Five Themes
• In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960–1976
• In & Out of Amsterdam: Art & Project Bulletin, 1968–1989
• Paper: Pressed, Stained, Slashed, Folded
• Focus: Jasper Johns
• Kirchner and the Berlin Street
• Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities
• Geo/Metric: Prints and Drawings from the Collection
• Book/Shelf
• Lucian Freud: The Painter's Etchings
• Multiplex: Directions in Art, 1970 to Now
• Repicturing the Past/Picturing the Present
• Artistic Collaborations: 50 Years at Universal Limited Art Editions
• Eye on Europe: Prints, Books & Multiples/1960 to Now
• Kiki Smith: Prints, Books, and Things
• The Russian Avant-Garde Book 1910–1934
• Artists of Brücke
• New Concepts in Printmaking 2: Willie Cole
• Paris-The 1890s