art appreciation: intro to printmaking

What IS a PRINT?An imprinted image on a piece of paper. Made from a MATRIX

made of some selected medium, usually stone, wood or metal. In a general sense, a print edition is the SET of ALL the impressions made from the SAME matrix.

What is an EDITION? The NUMBER of prints pulled from a plate or other matrix, NOT counting trial proofs, artist’s proofs, and other proofs outside the edition.

Published at the same time or as part of the same publishing event.

Printmaking

Printmaking processes include: RELIEF:

Woodcut, Linocut, Wood Engraving, CollagraphINTAGLIO:

Etching Non-acid based processes:

Engraving, Mezzotint and DrypointLithography: Traditional StoneMonotypeSilk ScreenDigital

RELIEFany printing from the inked surface of a BLOCK, usually

carved WOOD or LINOLEUM. Any cut-away lines or areas do not print.

The ink is transferred to paper by rubbing the back of the sheet with a hand-held baren or by applying pressure with a printing press.

Historical Context:Woodcuts were introduced to Europe in the early 15th

century but were executed in the Orient as early as the 9th century. The use of woodcuts was spread by the inventions of

moveable type and of the printing press in the 1450s.

Utagawa,Various Stages of Making a Color Print, 1857, Woodcut

Paper invented in China many centuries before European form, c. 800

Japan = work of several artists

Albrecht Durer, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, 1498

RELIEF: WOODCUTTom Huck2009

Wood Engraving

Another relief process, first used in 1800s

Similar to woodcut but relies on engrain of block (hard wood)

Needs tools designed to cut metal

Rockwell Kent, Workers of the World, Unite!, 1937

Wood engravingDramatic composition

with political themeDelicacy of line

indicative of mediumAt the time of creation,

Kent was one of the most well-known/successful graphic artists in U.S.

An Inexpensive Approach to RELIEFLinocut – similar to

woodcut, however linoleum much softer than wood, easier to cut, requires similar tools

No grain, cuts can be made in any direction with ease

Other possible relief processes?PotatoStyrofoamRubber stampsPlywood

Each requires a special approach, tools, papers, press

INTAGLIOFrom Italian, 'in the cut' or 'in the groove’

It encompasses all prints made by pressing the ink down into the crevices of the plate then wiping excess ink away from the surface.

The paper is placed over the plate and run through an intaglio press, which squeezes the paper and plate with high pressure between two rollers, transferring the ink to the paper.

Some examples of intaglio techniques include: etching mezzotintdrypoint aquatintengraving

Intaglio Printmaking

Unlike relief, what is removed ends up being printed

Metal plates and special tools, i.e. burin

Ink surface, wipe clean, place moist paper over plate and send through press

Engraving An engraving (also called a line engraving) is made by incising a

design into a METAL plate (usually copper) by applying pressure to the plate with a pointed tool called a graver or burin.

Engraving is an INTAGLIO process, so prints made in this manner will have a platemark.

Strong lines and sharp definition are characteristic of engravings. The earliest known line engravings were issued in the fifteenth century.

A method of engraving in a steel plate, which allows for finer detail and many more impressions than does copper, was developed by Thomas Lupton in 1822.

The Judgment of Paris, c. 1514Marantonio Raimondi

Engraving = oldest of the intaglio techniques

Developed from medieval practice of incising linear designs in armor

Basic tool is a burinShallow cuts create a light,

thin line while deeper cuts result in thicker and darker line

Shading = hatching

Intaglio Printmaking: Engraving

William HogarthMartin Schongauer

Drypoint – An Intaglio method in which a sharp needle or diamond point is used to scratch a line onto a metal or acrylic plate . The resultant burr of metal that is raised holds more ink than the incised line itself and gives the rich, velvety stroke characteristic of the technique. The plate wears out rapidly because the burr soon breaks off during printing.

Chine appliqué (chine collé) A chine appliqué or chine collé is a print in which the image is printed onto a thin sheet of Japanese fiber paper (other similar paper) which is backed by a stronger, thicker sheet. Japanese fiber paper takes an intaglio impression more easily than regular paper, so chine appliqué prints generally show a richer impression than standard prints.

Mezzotint (intaglio process)

inverse of the other intaglio processescreated working from black to white, rather than vice

versa. metal plate is worked using a rocker

-roughens the entire surface of the plate with tiny holes and burrs. -If the plate were printed at this time the image would

be completely velvet black. Areas that are to appear in lighter tones or in white are

smoothed out on the surface using scrapers and burnishers, so that they will hold LESS ink.

Mezzotint prints have a platemarkmakes a very rich imageused particularly for portraits.

Rocker – Hardened steel tool with a curved, serrated edge, used to roughen a metal plate for mezzotints.Roulette – tool with a revolving head of hardened steel on which a dotted, lined or irregular pattern is incised; used in intaglio processes.

Sarina Fuhrmann, Homeland, 2010 Mezzotint

Intaglio Etching ProcessApply acid resistant

ground / wax to metal plate

Draw design into waxed surface (ground)

Place plate in acid bathAcid “bites” the plate or

areas exposed during the drawing stage

Rembrandt van Rijn Faust in His Study Watching a Magic Disc, 1652

EtchingThis technique involves using acid to bite grooves into the plate. A substance called an etching ground blocks the acid from biting through in certain places, while disruptions in the ground allow the acid to bite in other areas. The plate is printed by pressing ink into the grooves and wiping excess ink off the surface. Ink is then transferred from the plate to the paper by being run through a press.

Rembrandt van Rijn Prodigal Son and The Three Cottages

AQUATINTAn aquatint is created by etching SECTIONS, rather than lines, of a plate in order to create areas of uniform tone. An aquatint is

prepared by applying resin or a similar ground (spray paint) to a metal plate, which is then heated, thus adhering the ground to the metal. This gives a roughness or grain to the plate which adds texture to the image.

Plate immersed in acid bath, which bites or etches the plate and creates areas which will hold the ink.

Design created with gradations of TONE achieved through repeated acid baths combined with varnish (acrylic) used to stop out areas of lighter tone.

Aquatint is an INTAGLIO process, so prints made in this manner will have a platemark.

Francisco Goya. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.

Mary Cassatt, The Letter, 1891 Aquatint / Color Etching

Tonal areas made by applying powdered resin (acid resistant)

Heat metal plate, resin activates or melts resin (each particle or dot of powdered resin will now resist acid)

process based on the chemical principle that OIL AND WATER DO NOT MIX.

Images are drawn on limestone or metal plates with crayons and inks which contain wax or oil.

After treatment with gum arabic and nitric or phosphoric acid, the non-image areas become water-receptive.

The stone or plate is wet before each inking with a roller, so the oil-based ink will adhere ONLY to the image areas. Paper is pressed against the surface with a bar or roller press.

Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798 but didn't come into general use until the 1820s. After that time lithography quickly replaced intaglio processes for most illustrative and commercial applications, for the design was easier to apply to the stone or plate, it was much easier to rework or correct a design, and many more images could be produced without loss of quality than in any of the intaglio processes.

LITHOGRAPHY (PLANOGRAPHIC)

Lithography “stone writing”The Balloon Eye, Redon, 1882

Death and the Mother, 1934, Kathe KollwitzLithography is a

planographic process = surface is flat

Direct quality of medium, appears like a drawing on paper

Color LithographyJane Avril, Toulouse-Lautrec, 1899

Andy Warhol, Pomp and Pop A, 1985 Serigraph

Serigraphy The process, also called silkscreen,

that uses a squeegee to force ink through selected parts of silk or other fabric stretched tightly over a frame containing the image. The image on the screen can be produced either photographically, by cutting stencils, or by drawing direct with a block out material.

Robert RauschenbergMixed Media with

emphasis on Screen Printing.

Monotype - Often considered a 'painterly' technique, this involves painting on a smooth surface and transferring that painting onto paper, usually, but not always, with the help of a press. Since the surface is smooth and does not hold ink in any repeatable way, each print is as unique as a painting.

Stencils, Appropriationand Artists’ Papers

Barbara Kruger’s appropriated mass media imagery, photo-stencils

David Hockney’s manipulation of paper-making process = added color to paper pulp, masses pressed and dried