S. W. Hayter

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies

Hayter, S. W. ( Stanley William) (1901–88). British printmaker and painter, a descendant of Sir George Hayter. He spent most of his life in Paris, where in 1927 he founded an experimental workshop for the graphic arts—Atelier 17—that played a central role in the 20th-century revival of the print as an independent art form. (The name was adopted in 1933 when Hayter moved his establishment from its original home to 17 rue Campagne-Première.) In 1940–50 he lived in New York, taking Atelier 17 with him. Hayter was a chemist by training and had an unrivalled knowledge of the technicalities of printmaking, on which he wrote two major books, New Ways of Gravure (1949) and About Prints (1962). Although his historical importance has long been acknowledged (probably no modern British artist has been so influential internationally), it is only recently that his own work has won him belated recognition as one of the outstanding graphic artists of his time. His prints are varied in technique and style, but most characteristically are influenced by the abstract vein of Surrealism and are notable for their experiments with texture and colour.