art appreciation: intro to printmaking
DESCRIPTION
Covers a variety of relief and intaglio printmaking processes, with examples of student work and pieces by Adam Palmer, Josh Banks, Christopher Wallace (UNT grads), and more well-known printmakers. Relief and intaglio processes such as linocut, woodcut relief, lithography, and screenprinting are introduced.TRANSCRIPT
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