About Manneken Press

M anneken Press is a fine art publisher producing original, limited edition and unique prints, portfolios and artist’s books by significant contemporary artists. Manneken Press was founded in 2000 by owner/operators Jonathan Higgins and Sarah Smelser and has established a reputation as a leading fine art press. Our mission is to enable the creation of new works of art in print and to push fine art printmaking forward into the 21st C. We pursue this through our program of publishing prints by contemporary artists who assert the foundational acts of 2-Dimensional investigation over narrative, whose works are experimental, unequivocally stirring and intelligent, with strong material and graphic presence. We advance the artist’s works by disseminating them through public exhibitions, art fairs and online platforms. Manneken Press is a member of the International Fine Print Dealers Association.

We have worked with a range of American and international artists to create a unique body of contemporary prints, and  currently represent more than 30 artists. While primarily focused on prints, our inventory includes drawings, sculpture and photography to better represent the full scope of our artist’s creative output.

The prints are made by the artists working in close collaboration with Master Printer Higgins, and are hand-printed in our own workshop. In all of our projects we respect the timeless processes of printmaking, using only the finest papers and inks, while maintaining a spirit of curiosity and experimentation.

We have exhibited our prints at many fine art fairs in Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, Boston, Baltimore, Houston, New York City, Palm Springs, and in many galleries and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art. Prints published by Manneken Press have been reviewed in Art In Print, Art In America, Grabado Y Edición, ARTnews, and Art On Paper. Manneken Press has been the subject of articles published in Hyperallergic and Business Insider. Survey exhibitions of our prints were mounted at the Peoria Contemporary Art Center in 2011 and 2023, and at Illinois Wesleyan University in 2005 and 2017. Full Circle: Prints from Manneken Press travelled to venues in California, Texas and Louisiana in 2007.

All works of art shown on this website are for sale. For purchasing information, click here. Inquiries from collectors, curators, consultants, connoisseurs and the merely curious are welcome.

Visitors are welcome by appointment to view prints in our small showroom and tour the studio, which is located on the 2nd floor of an historic Art Moderne style building, a former Coca Cola bottling plant built in 1938.

Jonathan Higgins is Manneken’s Director and Master Printer. A native of California, Higgins was first introduced to printmaking as an  undergraduate at Humboldt State University, where he earned a BA in 1987. He subsequently began his career printing editions for several San Francisco Bay Area artists. Higgins moved to New York City in 1989 to study with Krishna Reddy at New York University, receiving an MA in Art in 1992. He freelanced as printer at various print studios around the city, including The Printmaking Workshop and Branstead Studio. From 1992 – 1996 Higgins was employed by Vinalhaven Press, a print publishing workshop in Maine that operated during the summers, where he began collaborating with artists on platemaking. In 1995 Higgins co-founded Galamander Press in New York City which he operated with several partners until 2000. He also worked at the Brodsky Center For Innovative Editions, New Brunswick, NJ, ARTica Studio, Bilbao, Spain and the Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium before launching Manneken Press in 2000. Among the prominent artists Higgins has worked with are Robert Indiana, Alison Saar, Camille Billops, Komar and Melamid, Kiki Smith, Peter Saul, David Salle, Mel Chin, Brodsky and Utkin, and Jose Bedia. Higgins is also an artist and his work can be seen here. Read more about Jonathan here.

A ll images on this website are copyright protected and are jointly owned by Manneken Press and the artists.  Reproduction of any kind and for any purpose must be expressly approved by Manneken Press.