In 1946, in a cold water flat on Grand Street in lower Manhattan, Douglass Morse Howell started a revolution that would change the way the world perceived paper. He looked at the quirks and vagaries that occurred when he made a sheet. Exploring these, he discovered in paper a medium for visual expression. Paper has not been the same since. Laurence Barker and Golda Lewis each found their way to Howell’s studio, where they were introduced to handmade paper and spread the word about Howell’s investigations into the new medium. A recent exhibition at Rutgers University explored Howell’s legacy. Coordinated by Judith Brodsky and Gail Deery, of the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper, and Susan Gosin, of Dieu Donné Papermill, the exhibit illustrated the development of Howell‘s innovative work with paper through his students, their students, and younger contemporary papermakers. This important exhibition showed American papermaking from an historical perspective. It is fascinating to see in Howell’s art the seeds of paper art by more recent artists. The scope and organization of the show impressed me most. Andrea Honoré, the curator, chose well and organized the whole effectively. At the entrance, one saw representative samples of Howell’s art. On one wall were the first artworks in which imagery was a part of the paper, first exhibited at the Betty Parson’s Gallery in 1955. Howell called these Papetries. In these, he used pulp made from vat-dyed linens to create images. Elsewhere in the room one could see how Howell exploited the properties of flax and linen pulp by beating the fiber to create, alternately: heavy, solid papers; translucent, delicate papers; and sculptural pieces. He also explored including such materials as string, fabric scraps, and lace in his paper. An adjoining room housed work by Laurence Barker, who was largely responsible for introducing papermaking to a new generation of artists when he taught at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Barker makes use of shaped papers with pulp painting and perforations, and investigates the relationship between paper and imagery through printmaking techniques. The flowing pulp painting contrasts beautifully with the crisp, linear printing. On display were beautiful books by Walter Hamady, whom Barker taught at Cranbrook, and who, in turn, taught Sue Gosin and Paul Wong. (They taught Gail   Deery, who taught the youngest artists here. This is the exhibit’s genealogy.) Hamady’s books were in a glass case. This may have been the only safe way to display them, but it was frustrating not to be able to hold them, turn the pages, and view them as they were designed to be seen and handled. Reading the pages on view only whetted my appetite to see the books’ hidden parts. Another room was devoted to Golda Lewis. These show the development of her imagery and papermaking techniques from the early 1960s to the late 1990s. Early on she made collages containing elements of handmade paper, reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionists. Her aesthetic developed hand-in-hand with her explorations into techniques that make use of heavy pulp painting and embedded found objects. The textures, colors, and shapes of metal objects play against the handmade paper in which they are embedded to form interesting and arresting pieces. Clinton Hill collaborated with John Koller, who also learned papermaking as a student of Barker’s at Cranbrook. Hill’s early artworks primarily made use of pulp painting, stenciling, and watermarking. His later pieces express his interest in movement and action through lines, bright colors, and multiple couching. These burst with energy. In addition the exhibition included artists who have collaborated or worked at Dieu Donné. It was a treat to see the wide range of work produced at this papermill. Among the highlights of this section were beautiful books by Sue Gosin, a Chuck Close portrait layered with translucent pulp, Mel Bochner’s watermarked pulp on cotton paper, and beautiful cast paper with perforations by Winifred Lutz (another of Barker’s students). Dieu Donné art director Paul Wong created a beautiful suite for this exhibition. In his installation, Wong references ancient Chinese theology, philosophy, and architecture using the Altar of Heaven in Beijing, which dates from the Ming dynasty. His lyrical pieces explore the qualities of paper. In some, the burnt edges of joss papers echo deckle edges. He also creates a lively interplay between the paper’s qualities—thinness, translucency—and his aesthetic ideas, which he expresses through solvent-printed images. For other parts of the suite Wong uses more substantial papers and colors, in contrast to the more ethereal pieces. Artwork by students at the Mason Gross School round out the exhibit. They reflect the varied perspectives and techniques of these younger artists: clouds of flax by Sarah Redlow, a commentary on feminism by Courtney Healy, sculptural pieces by Kim Carr and Michael Shomsky, and a work by Eduardo Fausti that refers back to Albrecht Dürer. It was enriching to see the work of these artists in an historical context. Their informed use of a range of paper qualities illuminate and serve a broad range of aesthetics. This exhibition illustrated how paper has truly been transformed into a medium of visual expression.