PORTLAND, OR.- A retrospective of prints by San Francisco artist Beth Van Hoesen will be on view at the Portland Art Museum May 2–August 16, 2009. Over the course of five decades, Van Hoesen has created intimate prints that bring out the beauty and eccentricities of her subjects—people, animals, still lifes, interiors, and landscapes. Approximately 70 prints by Van Hoesen, drawn largely from the permanent collection of the Portland Art Museum , will be on display.

A keen observer of detail, Van Hoesen selects and interprets fragments of the everyday world, creating images of elegance and restraint. Much of the charm of her work resides in her precise handling of line and her sure sense of color. Working chiefly in intaglio, she is a master of the various processes, often employing them in complex combinations of line and tone. This exhibition presents a survey of her development, from her early black-and-white prints of the 1950s to her ambitious color prints of the 1980s and 1990s. Several works will be displayed with state proofs documenting the artist’s changes to the printing plates and collaboration with master printers.