Born in Glendale, California, Clinton Adams studied at UCLA and taught there from 1946 to 1954. He became associate director of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop, established in Los Angeles in 1960 to encourage American printmakers and to foster the art of lithography. Tamarind was one of the first workshops in the United States to offer the kind of printing equipment and gathering of artists that was common in Europe; in 1970 the workshop became the Tamarind Institute at the University of New Mexico. Adams was the director of the Tamarind Institute from 1970 until his retirement in 1985. In 1974 he established a series of technical papers on lithography which evolved into the Tamarind Papers, an annual journal of the fine print. As an artist, writer, and teacher, Adams has promoted the art of lithography in America. He is the author of numerous books and articles on lithography. Many of Adams' prints are composed of geometric forms emerging from ambiguous backgrounds.
[This is an excerpt from the interactive companion program to the videodisc American Art from the National Gallery of Art. Produced by the Department of Education Resources, this teaching resource is one of the Gallery's free-loan educational programs.]