By Michele Leight

Two exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art spanning over a century collectively highlight the role prints have played as social commentary, as well as the extraordinary impact prints have had within the pantheon of art history, where they have been created by towering figures like Goya, Picasso and Matisse. Artists have often taken important issues and messages to their prints. With outstanding examples by legendary and lesser known artists, both shows affirm that prints are by no means "small fry." German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse" has the bonus of an additional 3,200 prints from their collection now available for viewing online at www.moma.org/germanexpressionism. This is made possible by the Annenberg Foundation's GRoW project, in conjunction with its generous support of the Museum's German expressionist Digital Archive Project.

The exhibition, "German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse," (1905-1920s), features 250 stunning prints, books, posters and periodicals by legendary German - and a few Austrian - artists of Brucke and Der Blau Reiter, and post-war artists, including Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Franz Marc, Vasily Kandinsky, Max Beckman, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Oskar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, and Egon Schiele. There is no drop in standards among lesser known artists, like Kathe Kollwitz, the creator of the seven woodcuts in the series "War" (1923), that depict the devastation of families left behind. "The Widow II, (plate 5) from "War " is illustrated below. The prints are punctuated and historically framed by sublime oil paintings that accentuate the sense of urgency in these artists to find a medium in which they could communicate with a larger number of people. The influential periodical, "Der Sturm," is well represented, with graphic covers and illustrations by some of the artists mentioned above.

In "Impressions from South Africa: 1965 to Now" nearly 80 prints, posters, books and wall stencils by 30 artists bear witness to a country once bound by apartheid, (1980s), when printmaking became an affordable and possible pursuit for South African artists that were not permitted to attend colleges, but found a place to express their art and their concerns in art schools. South African artists also record the end of apartheid, and its aftermath to the present day, with prints that become ever more sophisticated, often incorporating photographs and other documentary elements, or no imagery at all.

Paul Edmund's linocut "The same but different," (2001), illustrated, is an "abstract print," that shows how limitations imposed by a particular medium can result in the most beautiful and memorable imagery, in which messages are imbedded. Artists whose works are included in this superb show are Bitterkomix, Kudzanai Chiurai, Sandile Goje, William Kentridge, Senzeni Marasela, John Muafangejo, Cameron Platter, Claudette Schreuders and Sue Williamson. Ms. Williamson was present and described her moving work "For Thirty Years Next to His Heart," (1990), an installation deploying a powerful new tool for the innovative artist/social commentator, the color xerox print. This monumental work features 49 xerox prints of pages in a "passbook" belonging to a South African man who lent it to her for her project but "did not want it back" because of the terrible memories associated with having to present it to authorities for even the most mundane activity, like grocery shopping. This huge "print" was created not by the artist's hand, but on a "store bought" home printer, assembled and incorporated as a work of art loaded with personal history.

Set decades apart and in very different geographical locations, prints express their artist's grave concerns, which are eerily similar. There is nothing flippant about the German Expressionist's portrayal of prostitutes and debauched men, or the dilletantes decked out in furs in smoke-filled cafes. They are deployed to record a society on the brink of disaster, their insatiable decadence a grim reminder of the festering poverty and hunger that plagued most of their countrymen, and of the tragedies yet to come in two wars.

The often grim titles of the prints in both shows say it all. In "German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse," we read captions like "Den of Iniquity" (1914) and "Inflation From the Shadows," 1920/21), by George Grosz; "Buried Alive (January 1916), (Champagne)," "Corpse in Barbed Wire (Flanders)" and "Wounded Man Fleeing (Battle of the Somme, 1916)," from "The War," (1924), by Otto Dix; "Night from Hell," (1919) and "The Beggars From the Trip to Berlin," by Max Beckman (1922); "Whoever Does Not Work is the Gravedigger for His Own Children," by Cesar Klein (1919) and a sinister trio of "ladies of the night" by Otto Dix: ""Nocturnal Apparition," "Procuress," and "Leonie," all created in 1923. Lurid, rather than alluring would accurately describe these women caught up in a misogynistic universe in which they are bawdy pawns in their wealthy client's games. Their demeanor is fatalistic, hope is out the window. Defeat, both personal and societal, is imminent.

Similarly, the captions in "Impressions From South Africa: 1965 to Now," speak of terrible things done to those seeking a new life by those holding all the power: "Warlords," by Norman Catherine (1988); "We Always Have Reason to Fear," by Kudzanai Chiurai, (2008); "Unite and Organize to Resist Repression," (1988), by Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), South Africa, established 1985; "Save the Press," (1989) by Save The Press Campaign, South Africa, active 1988-1990; "One Year of United Action," (1964), by United Democratic Front (UDF), South Africa, active 1983-1991; "We Call For an End to Conscription," (1986), designer unknown, End Conscription Campaign (ECC), South Africa, active 1983-1988; "Glass Houses and Fence Sitters," from Disasters of Peace, by Diane Victor, 2001-2003; "Black and Blue IV," from Black and Blue, 2005, by Buyile Voyiya and "Freedom Charter T-Shirt," 1986, by Sue Williamson. The T-Shirt has become a universal "message board" in contemporary society, bearing all kinds of slogans, from meaningful to banal or humorous. This T-Shirt was intended for a serious civil rights purpose, for a different South Africa, free of apartheid. The sinister "General," by William Kentridge, (1993), is a poster boy for the commandants in all the movies and news clips we have seen and books we have read about atrocities committed when the wrong guys have absolute power, including the present. There are great generals, but this portrayal is not flattering, and not about them.

Artists throughout history have been drawn like magnets to the hottest issues of their day. While some take a low key approach, others "vent" vigorously, expressing opinions - or social commentary - that others may have shared but could not or dared not transcribe. The angst and fear many of these prints portray is strangely familiar, seamlessly evoking disturbing issues today.

"Two Wounded Soldiers," by Eric Heckel (1915), and the "hand-colored" drawing/print created recently (2009) by Cameron Platter (born in 1978), "The Battle of Rorke's Drift at Club Dirty Den," share awesome visual impact. The ability to garner attention was critical amidst censorship, without widespread access to TVs, computers and cellphones that share important information. Many of these print take the role of photographs - either because cameras did not exist, artists could not afford them, or because cameras were banned by authorities. Censorship was brutally enforced in Germany and in South Africa. Totalitarian regimes view artists, writers, and journalists, among others, as a direct threat to the status quo, because the authorities do not want the world to know what is really going on. House arrest, imprisonment and torture of "free thinkers" and artists continues today in many countries. These two exhibitions are not just about the past. They resonanate for all those still hounded by authorities, trapped in horrible prisons, or placed under house arrest today. Some, sadly, vanish and we do not know what has happened to them. Others are killed. We would never have known about Neda Soltan's public execution - murder - by the Iranian authorities if someone had not videotaped it and put it on the internet. Her crime? She dared to attend the opposition party's protest march.

"German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse" focuses on the volume and extremely high quality of graphic art - prints, drawings, posters, illustrated books and magazines - associated with the movement that developed during the early decades of the 20th century. Historically they follow the birth of Expressionism around 1905, work their way through the difficult war-torn years and finally the turbulent postwar years of the early 1920s. Many of the prints fervently depict the urgent social and political issues of their day that have now entered our history books. We are bombarded with strong graphic imagery today, web-streamed on our computer, on TV, in film animation and advertizing, as well as print media, so it is harder perhaps to grasp the impact and importance of prints in Germany in the early decades of the 20th century, when the economy was in shreds, and prints were cheaper to produce - and to buy - that paintings. Similarly in "Impressions From South Africa: 1965 to Now," the "Bitterkomix" series combine satire, superb illustration and social commentary in the best comic book tradition to convey the harsh reality of being outsiders in a community that does not want to share freedom and equality.

"Impressions From South Africa: 1965 to Now" made me think about whether apartheid would have lasted as long as it did if camera phones had been invented in the 60s. Would web-streamed images of the living conditions in Soweto or non-white Africans being arrested because they could not present their "passbook" have precipitated action against apartheid sooner? They say an image is worth a thousand words - even more so if the imagery is disturbing, or if it embraces a social cause or issue that the power elites would rather keep under wraps. Historically, images - with powerful messages - have helped change the world.

Before personal printers - which we take for granted now - prints were an economical, fast and effective way of sharing information. It was inevitable that as Germany's economy became dangerously unstable, German Expressionist artists would take refuge in a medium that could both warn, incite and document the unsettling events unfolding around them.

Both exhibitions document how history repeats itself. "The passbook" of South Africa that struck terror in the hearts of those that could not produce them, or those that were dissidents, recall the "papers" demanded by the Nazis in Hitler's Germany that could also result in instant arrest if they were not legitimate, or, worse, if they could not be produced at all. Although whites in South Africa were also required to have passbooks, they were not arrested if they could not produce them. Black South Africans were arrested on the spot if they were caught without their "passbook." Abuse of power was widespread. Arrest could end in torture and death.

Of all the artworks in both exhibitions, it is noticeable that it is the printed T Shirt that has become totally absorbed into our contemporary lifestyle, most often printed with cool slogans, fashionable labels, and advertising, but also with causes we support. "The "Freedom Charter" T Shirt, (illustrated), by Sue Williamson served a serious purpose in the anti-apartheid movement, citing the hopes of a group of people that were looking for dignity and a place in South African society. "There shall be Houses, Security and Comfort" counteracts the reality of dreadful squatter camps, relocation settlements and forced removals of black Africans from their land. "Apartheid means "apart-ness" in Afrikaans. The endless prints depicting fallen or wounded soldiers in "German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse" recall the wars we send our young men and women off to today, where they, too, incur terrible injuries, lose their lives and leave grieving widows and children behind.

"German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse" and "Impressions From South Africa, 1965 to Now" track the enormous sacrifice and courage it takes to attain justice and freedom. It is especially courageous to keep the flame of artistic freedom burning when the police dogs bare their fangs and the torture chambers threaten.

Both exhibitions affirm that artistic and personal freedom are inseparable. They highlight the noblest yearnings of the human spirit while acknowledging the worst.

"German Expressionism:The Graphic Impulse," is organized by Starr Figura, The Phyllis Ann and Walter Borten Associate Curator of Prints and Illustated books at MoMA.

"SouthAfrica: 1965 to Now" is organized by Judith B. Hecker, Assistant Curator, Department of Prints and Illustrated Books, MoMA. This exhibition was made possible by The Coca Cola Company.