Born in Indianapolis, printmaker Garo Zareh Antreasian helped to promote the art of lithography among American artists during the 1960s and 1970s. He studied printmaking with Will Barnet in New York. During the 1950s, while teaching at the John Herron Institute in Indianapolis, he began to produce color lithographs.
Throughout his career, Antreasian has been a very active member of the Tamarind Lithography Workshop. The workshop was established in 1960 to train lithographers and educate American artists about the possibilities of the medium. Before that time, artists interested in printmaking had to go to Europe to work with master craftsmen there. Antreasian served as technical director of Tamarind in Los Angeles, then became an advisor and teacher after the workshop was moved to the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. In his own work as a lithographer, Antreasian has produced large abstract compositions that suggest landscapes.
[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.]