Catch Lou Stovall’s Silkscreen Prints at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. This Summer

It has been said that Lou Stovall was responsible for turning silkscreening into an art form. Born in Athens, Georgia, in 1937, he moved to Washington to earn his BFA from Howard University and never left. That’s where, in 1968, he established his second claim to fame: Workshop, Inc., a collaboration studio for local creatives that grew into a professional printmaking facility ultimately called the Dupont Center used by the likes of Sam Gilliam and Robert Mangold. Stovall’s own art practice is also noteworthy, characterized by sophisticated silkscreen prints with lush palettes and allusions to nature and collaborations with such prominent artists as Jacob Lawrence and Lloyd McNeill. All these facets come together in “Lou Stovall: The Museum Workshop” on view this summer at the Phillips Collection. Guest curated by his son Will, the show’s more than 80 prints, paintings, sculptures, and photographs encompass work produced by artists at the workshop and collected by Stovall between 1969 and 1973, Stovall’s own silkscreens, plus his early community posters, which document DC in a time of protest and upheaval.