Artistic Collaborations
Though not enamored of printmaking, feeling it lacked the intimate subtlety of drawing, Wilde was eventually engaged by a number of colleagues to venture into the field over the last third of his career. He gained one important artistic collaborator in 1966 when book artist Walter Hamady joined the art department faculty of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Under the imprimatur of his own Perishable Press (founded in 1964), Hamady worked with a number of contemporary writers and artists to create editions that are "literary, visual, typographic and aethetic exploration of the potential of the book." Books on which Wilde worked with Hamady include "John's Apples" (1995, with poems by Reeve Lindberg, edition of 125); "Nineteen Eighty-five: The Twelve Months" (1992, edition of 130); "What his mother's son hath wrought: twenty-four representative paintings with excerpts from notebooks kept on and off between the years 1940–1988" (1988, edition of 1,000); "44 Wilde 1944: Being a Selection of 44 Images from a Sketchbook Kept by John Wilde Mostly in 1944" (1984) and "The Story of Jane and Joan" with lettering by Hamady and 12 etchings hand-colored by Wilde (1977, edition of 25 bound, four unbound). Wilde also produced around 20 oils based on Hamady's personal journals from the mid eighties, 12 of which are reproduced in the 1992 publication "Nineteen Eighty-five: The Twelve Months," mentioned above.
Warrington Colescott collaborated with Wilde on several occasions. In 1985 Colescott printed two large color etchings by Wilde at Colescott's Mantegna Press in Hollandale, Wisconsin, Titled "7 Kiefers" and "8 Russets" (both editions of 100). The prints depict groups of plump pears and green apples.
Wilde also collaborated with Harvey Littleton and Littleton Studios to create three vitreograph prints. Wilde's vitreographs "The Kiss" (edition of 20) and "Portrait of Joan" (edition of 15) were created in 1996; his "Three Trees" (edition of 16) was created in 1998.
The Tandem Press at the University of Wisconsin–Madison was another collaborative venue for Wilde. In 1985 he took the opportunity to produce one lithograph in black ink on white paper there. "Wildeview II" measures 23½ × 36 inches and was published in an edition of 90.
Wilde worked with Andrew Balkin Editions of Madison, Wisconsin to produce "J. & J. Enter the Kingdom of Heaven," a color etching and aquatint that was part of the eleven artist portfolio, "AGB Encore." He later collaborated with the atelier on an aquatint and dry-point print with selective hand-coloring for the "Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Portfolio".
He also collaborated with Colescott on designing the state poster for the Wisconsin Sesquicentennial in 1998.
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“The artistic temperament is a disease that affects amateurs.... Artists of a large and wholesome vitality get rid of their art easily, as they breathe easily or perspire easily. But in artists of less force, the thing becomes a pressure, and produces a definite pain, which is called the artistic temperament.”
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