WHAT IS PRINTMAKING?

Unit 1

OBJECTIVES

Learn the basic principles and terminology of

printmaking principles

Learn the four major methods of printmaking

Learn about the uses of prints in the past and

the present

Begin to experiment with

printmaking

Janet Fish, Tropical Still Life,

1992. Silkscreen

PRINTS AND PRINTMAKING PROCESS

Prints produced over and over

Print vs. Reproduction

Reproduction: A copy of an original piece of

artwork such, such a painting, that is printed,

or reproduced many times by means of a

commercial photographic process

THE PLATE

Begins with a design

Design: The plan the artist uses to organize the art elements in a work of art to achieve a unified composition

Ink surface

Transfer to paper

(“pull”)

THE IMPRESSION

The print pulled from plate is the impression

Impression: Surface made from various

materials-including metal, wood, plastic,

linoleum, line, stone, plaster, cardboard,

masonite, etc.-for the reception of an image

that can be inked and printed multiple times

THE EDITION

Once the impression is satisfactory, plate is considered final

The group is signed and numbered

The group is an edition (If plate is changed, new edition numbering starts)

Edition: The total number of prints pulled and authenticated by the artist for distribution.

PRINTMAKERS AND PRINTS

From earliest recorded human experience,

prints have been used to document and

communicate information

Artists experimented with

woodcuts

INFLUENCES

Prints in China and Europe: used to illustrate

religious manuscripts

Prints put on paper and textiles

for religious services

PRINTING PRESS

Johannes Guttenberg invented moveable type

in 1440

Books became easier to produce

Books needed illustrations

Need for woodcuts and engravings increased

dramatically

Insert illuminated manuscripts

ALBRECHT DÜRER

Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer was master

in woodcuts

Able to obtain fine lines and create prints with

depth and shading

Quality resembled pen and ink drawings

The

Rhinoceros,

1515,

Woodcut

Self Portrait at 28,

1500, oil on wood

PRINTS OVER TIME

Gradually, prints stopped being seen as simply a way to illustrate texts.

Prints were valued as works of art

Prints were affordable to a wider audience

This medium became a forum for expression and experimentation

Medium: (pl. media) the materials such as oil, watercolor, etc., used to

create an artwork; or a

category of art such as drawing,

painting or sculpture

INFLUENCES

Japanese artists of the 1700’s and 1800’s

perfected art of the woodcut

They spread to Europe and influenced

European artists

Prints were prized by French

Impressionists

Japanese designs influenced

French Artists Kitagawa Utamaro,

Combing Hair, ca, 1800.

Color Woodcut

PRINTMAKING IN THE MODERN ERA

Some artists worked in traditional methods

Others, experimented with new methods

Käthe Kollwitz, Self Portrait,

1923. Woodcut

Ron Adams, Blackburn, 2002.

Color lithograph

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi,

7 Pyramide in form einer

achtelskugel, 1967.

Color screenprint

PRINTMAKING TODAY

Today, prints are created for more varied

purposes, and more diverse body of artists

Most prints are created by using a press

Commercial Printmaking

Most relate to advertising or product design

Relief, intaglio, silkscreen, planographic

METHODS OF PRINTMAKING

RELIEF

In relief printmaking, artist carves into a plate

to remove the areas that will not print

Leaves only the raised area to be inked and

printed

Creates a reverse,(mirror image)

INTAGLIO

In intaglio printmaking, artists engrave or cut with an etching needle or etch with acid.

Process is usually done on a metal plate: either copper or zinc

Plate is dipped in an acid bath “etching” the lines in the metal

Ink fills the etched lines

Anthony van Dyck,

Lucas Vorsterman,

ca 1626-36. Etching

RELIEF VS. INTAGLIO

SILKSCREEN

In silkscreen printing, the artist pushes ink

through a screen onto paper

Also called screen printing and stencil printing

Stencils block out areas where no ink is wanted

SERIGRAPHY

A fine art print created by silkscreen process is call a serigraph

Characterized by a graphic boldness that emphasizes shapes and color contrasts

Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger,

1975,

Screenprint

PLANOGRAPHIC

In planographic printmaking, artists print from a flat surface

The image to be printed is placed directly on the surface of the plate

There are two types of planographic printing: lithography and monotype

MIXING METHODS

Some artists make

hand additions to

their prints

Some artists

combine

printmaking

methods

Frank Stella, The Butcher Slew the Ox.

Hand-colored and collaged with lithographic,

linoleum block, and screen printings

FOUR TYPES OF PRINTMAKING METHODS

ART HISTORY

HATCH SHOW PRINT

“Letterpress printing” is a term

for print text with movable type

Moveable type is a relief plate

In1875, brothers Charles and

Herbert Hatch and created CR

and HH Hatch, later called

Hatch Show Print

They achieved artistic balance

between type size and style,

vertical and horizontal layout

Advertised for country and jazz

musicians

STUDIO EXPERIENCE