David Adamson — World's best digital printmaker

Master printmaker David Adamson, who was trained as a traditional printmaker and had worked with as a stone lithographer in London, in 1984 purchased the first Macintosh computer sold in the Washington, D.C. area.

Within a month Apple signed him to a developer contract.

Though within a few years the Mac was capable of displaying true photographic quality images in full color,

there was still no output device able to generate these images.

Adamson turned to this problem and eventually purchased an IRIS printer in 1993.

Digital printmaking predictably ran into a storm of protest and criticism from conventional printmakers when Adamson's first major show of his work, at his Washington, D.C. gallery in 1995, occurred.

Nevertheless, he persevered, choosing to work with the very finest artists in the world.

Chuck Close, William Wegman, Annie Leibovitz, Adam Fuss and Jim Dine are among a few of the artists who now collaborate with Adamson.

Photos of some of his prints appear above and below.

You can see them for yourself, and buy one if you have some spare change, at the David Adamson Gallery in Washington, D.C. (1515 14th Street NW, Suite 202, Washington, D.C., 20005; 202-232-0707; Gallery hours: Tues.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat. 12 noon–5 p.m.; Metro: Dupont Circle).