“Snowstorm”, 2016. Photogravure, edition of 12.
Wright State University, Dayton, OH
Exhibition dates: August 21 – October 18, 2025
The work of Manneken Press artist Philip Van Keuren will be on display in a major one-person exhibition in the Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries at Wright State University. Opening August 21 and running through October 18, the exhibition—titled Elegy—will feature an array of 55 copperplate photogravures and silver gelatin prints and a video installation.
The heart of Elegy lies within Philip Van Keuren’s decades-long photographic project Toward What Sun?, a body of work that has been in production for the last 30 years. In 2009 Van Keuren began working with Manneken Press to make photogravure plates from his original 35mm negatives, a project which is still ongoing. The photogravure prints will be on display in the exhibition, alongside the artist’s silver gelatin prints.
Every image contributes to a contemplative visual poem that explores the nature of time, memory, and place, and gestures toward universal themes of mortality and transcendence. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a 24-page publication, which includes an insightful essay by Harry Cooper, the Bunny Mellon Curator of Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art.
“Tulips”, 2019. Photogravure, edition of 12.
“Embrace”, 2019. Photogravure, edition of 12.
“Buttress”, 2019. Photogravure, edition of 12.
“Shrub”, 2019. Photogravure, edition of 12.
Watch this video see the process of making a photogravure plate. This is the same process used at Manneken Press to make Philip Van Keuren’s photogravures.
