Printmaking is an art form in which ink or other materials
are transferred from a surface to a material, like paper, fabric, wood, or stone. A wide variety of techniques can be used in printmaking. This style of art is one of the oldest in the world. The printmaking process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each piece produced is not a copy but considered an original since it is not a reproduction of another work of art.
Prints are created by transferring ink from a medium or through a prepared screen to a sheet of paper or other material. Common types of mediums include: metal plate, stone, aluminium, polymer, blocks of wood, linoleum, styro foam and even cut vegetables.
Screens made of silk or synthetic fibres are used for screen printing.
RELIEF PRINTING In relief printing, the surface used for printing is raised above the non-printable areas. This is usually achieved by cutting away the non-printable area of the design or relief block. INTAGLIO PRINTING Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, dry point, aquatint or mezzotint.
To print an intaglio plate, ink is applied to the surface and then rubbed with a cloth to remove most of the excess. The final smooth wipe is often done with newspaper or old public phone book pages, leaving ink only in the incisions. A damp piece of paper is placed on top and the plate and paper are run through a printing press that, through pressure, transfers the ink from the recesses of the plate to the paper.
Intaglio engraving, was invented in Germany in the 1430s, well after the woodcut print. Engraving had been used by goldsmiths to decorate metalwork, including armour, musical instruments and religious objects since ancient times. It has been suggested
that goldsmiths began to print impressions of their work to record the design, and that printmaking developed from that. LINO PRINTING Lino Printing or Lino Cutting is a block printing technique.
Firstly, a design is chosen to be printed. A mirror image of this design is transferred to a lino surface Typically this is done using tracing paper or sometimes the design is drawn directly onto the lino surface.
Areas of the design are then carved from the lino surface. The uncarved areas are the parts that get printed. The lino surface is then inked with a roller and printed onto paper. This printing process is carried out manually, but it can also be done using a printing press. If you are looking for professional quality prints then a printing press should be used.
Prints can be made using one or more colours. If you use just one colour then the print is complete at this stage. If you use multiple colours, then once the first print is finished the lino surface is cleaned and dried. Another section of the lino surface is then carved. The section that has been carved will not be printed for the subsequent colour. The process continues until all of the colours have been printed. Multicolour lino prints are called reduction prints.
WOOD BLOCK PRINTING
Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns. This technique was used widely throughout East Asia. It originated in China as a method of printing textiles and later on paper.
The wood block is carefully prepared as a relief matrix, which means the areas to show 'white' are cut away with a knife, chisel, or sandpaper leaving the design to show in 'black'. The block is cut along the grain of the wood. It is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into contact with paper to achieve an acceptable print.
The design would print "in reverse" or mirror-image, a further complication when text was involved. For colour printing, multiple blocks are used, each for one colour, although overprinting two colours may produce further colours on the print.
The earliest surviving examples of woodblock printing date back to 220 AD China, and from the 4 th Century in Egypt. Woodblock printing first came to Christian Europe between 1440 to 1460. These prints were made for religious purposes. Around the mid-century, woodcut books with both text and images, usually carved in the same block, emerged as an alternative to manuscripts and books. LITHOGRAPHY Lithography is a method of printing using a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a completely smooth surface. Lithography can be used to print text or art work onto paper or another suitable material.
Lithography originally used an image drawn in wax or another oily substance applied to a lithographic stone as the medium to transfer ink to the printed sheet. Most books, indeed all types of high-volume text, are now printed using offset lithography, the most common form of printing production. DRY POINT Dry point, like etching and engraving, belongs to the Intaglio family of printmaking, but is much more simple and direct.
In dry point the surface of the plate is scratched, gouged, punctured and scraped, but the material itself is not removed, it is just pushed to the side, forming a kind of curl. The lines present a metal burr which, when looked at through a magnifying glass, shows up as a kind of broken metallic wave, like the ridges of a ploughed field. It is this 'burr' which holds the ink, and gives a dry point line, or area, its typical velvety appearance. The great attraction of dry point printmaking is its simplicity. Materials and tools are cheap and easy to come by and the process itself couldn't be more straightforward. SILKSCREEN Screen printing is a printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink or other printable materials which can be pressed through the mesh as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas.
ETCHING Etching is a printmaking process that dates back 500 years. The etching process involves a sheet of metal, usually made of copper or zinc, but it always relies on acid to etch the plate.
To begin an etching, you must first coat a blank copper plate with wax. Using a steel etching needle, draw the design through the wax and onto the metal. Once you have drawn your picture, the metal will be submerged into a bath of acid and left for about two hours. The acid will eat away at the copper that has been exposed by the needle to leave grooves, marks and textures in the metal.
The plate is then put through a high-pressure printing press together with a sheet of paper (often moistened to soften it). The paper picks up the ink from the etched lines, making a print. The process can be repeated many times; typically several hundred impressions (copies) could be printed before the plate shows much sign of wear. Etching has often been combined with other intaglio techniques such as engraving
AQUATINT Aquatint, is a style of etching widely used by printmakers to achieve a broad range of tonal values. The process is called aquatint because finished prints often resemble watercolour drawings or wash drawings.
Where the etching technique uses a needle to make lines, aquatint uses powdered resin which is acid resistant in the ground to create a tonal effect. The tonal variation is controlled by the level of acid exposure over large areas
The acid bites away the plate only in the parts between the resin grains, leaving an evenly pitted surface that gives way for broad areas of tone when the grains are removed and the plate is printed. An endless number of tones can be achieved by exposing various parts of the plate to acid.
THE HISTORY OF PRINTMAKING CHINESE STONE RUBBINGS & WOODCUTS 868 AD,
Stone rubbing is actually the earliest form of printing before woodcut. Chinese scholars studied scriptures, the classic text accompanying holy images were carved onto huge , flat stone slabs.
After the lines were incised, damp paper was pressed and moulded on the surface, so the paper was held in the incised lines. Ink was applied, and the paper was then carefully removed. The resulting image appeared as white lines on a black background. This method of combining text and image is called block-printing. JAPANESE PRINTS 18 th Century
The history of Japanese prints is linked with the art history of China and the relief technique invented there.
The style of Japanese graphic art that emerged in the middle of the 18 th century is known as the Ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world, school.
Early Ukiyo-e prints began in black and white. Created for a popular audience, they were the publications of the day. Certain prints were made for home decorations; others often set the style of day for fashion and behaviour.
Colour printing from multiple blocks was soon introduced. Flat, solid shapes and dramatic colour, design, and composition symbolise the later Ukiyo-e prints. 15 TH CENTURY GOTHIC PRINTS The first woodcuts of the 15 th century were generally made in Germany, France and Italy. The earliest Gothic images were cut from wood, inked and printed. They were made to be used as playing cards,
Because much of Gothic life centred around the church, the clergy used prints for devotional purposes and distributed them among the people.
The images consisted mostly of saints and depictions of the life of Christ and of the Virgin Mary; they also illustrated numerous Bible stories.
With the development of moveable type, block books became popular, and illustrations could be combined with text. RENAISSANCE PRINTS The most illustrious artist of the Renaissance in the northern Europe was Albrecht Durer. He became the first great graphic master, He was unique with the use of the engraver and woodcut knife. Along with his keen observation of nature and his devotion to prints, his subject matter were of religion.
By the mid-16 th century, prints had become popular. They were used for all manner of illustrations, including landscape and portraiture. BAROQUE PRINTS
Baroque artists of the 17 th century felt that an image could have a powerful emotional impact. Gesture could become highly characterised, exaggerated even to a point of being grotesque.
Engraving and etching were printmaking processes used. Portraiture, landscape, perspective, foreground, middle ground, and background were subject matters portrayed. Prints of the kings of France and Spain documented various historical events. Wartime etchings showed the bitter and devastating events of war. Intense detail was give to all prints.
Artists such as Jaques Callot, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Reubens, Anthony Van Dyck as well as the Dutch school of graphic artists flourished. In addition to the subject matter already studied, interior studies, and scenes of daily life were also carefully considered. 18 TH CENTURY EUROPEAN PRINTS At the turn of the 18 th century, Paris was the artistic centre of Europe.
Such artists as Francois Boucher and Jean Honore Fragonard documented court life in drawings and sketches; influential publishers then had these made into etchings, which proved extremely popular.
During the 18 th century the graphic arts once again flourished in Italy. Artists such as Giovanni Battista Tiepolo was noted for his delicacy of line and the spacious quality achieved through economy of line and detail.
Subject matter such as courtyards, canals, and the beautiful architecture of 18 th century Venice were portrayed. 19 TH CENTURY EUROPEAN PRINTS In the 19 th century. Leading artists produced an extraordinary range of prints. Spains Francisco de Goya, for example, combined aquatint with etching to produce bluntly truthful visions of the follies of humankind and the horrendous acts of war.
In Paris, lithography provided the inexpensive option to reproduce images on a large scale in the form of prints, periodicals, and book illustrations. The artist Honore Daumier was particularly gifted in his portrayal of political satire and social commentary.
From the 1860s to the end of the century, the Japanese print re emerged on porcelain ware from Japan. Most of these prints were wrapped with Hokusai designs. Prints of this time were flat, bold, and asymmetrical in composition.
The Impressionist Edgar Degas lithographic scenes of women bathing and dressing were very similar to the Japanese style. During this period colour lithography grew in popularity,
20 TH CENTURY EUROPEAN PRINTS The many art movements of Fauvism, Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Op Art, Pop Art, and Super realism introduced many printmakers that played important roles in the development of printmaking in the 20 th century.
Paris was the centre of Western Art and printmaking.
A group of Post Impressionists evolved in their printing styles; such artists as Henri Matisse. He produced black and white lithographs.
At this time, prints were rich, with an opulent atmosphere suggested in black and white with intense vibrant colour. CUBISM Cubism which translated the realistic image into abstract form by dissolving it into cubic elements and by crisscrossing shapes and planes, was the joint achievement of the French artist Georges Braque and the Spaniard Pablo Picasso, who worked together beginning in 1909.
Picassos earliest prints (1904) speak of directness and compassion, and suggest a serious and sentimental nature.
In 1930 he was commissioned to produce a series of 100 prints . These etchings and aquatints ranged in subject matter; from the artist studio to portraiture.
Other artists who produced important cubist prints were, Jacques Villon, Juan Gris and Louis Marcoussis. Each worked to achieve a warm and harmonious relationship between the etched line and overall tonal quality.
SURREALISM Surrealism required imagery that came from the unconscious and from dreams.
The printmakers from this period were the Spaniard Joan Miro, whose colour lithographs have a delightfully unusual quality, with bizarre hints.
In 1910, another artist named Marc Chagall came to Paris from Russia. Throughout a long career he distinguished himself as a printmaker, combining myths and legends, naive charm with rich, dreamlike imagery.
EXPRESSIONISM At the turn of the century, German artists developed Expressionism, a style highlighting prejudiced emotions and responses to the external world, in reaction against French Impressionism and Post Impressionism.
The boldness of the woodcut was again used, which consisted of striking contrasts of sections of roughly gouged wood, harsh portraits, and poetic compositions of the human figure.
Artists such as, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Heckel, Otto Mueller, Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee were famous for their development of this style.
Artists such as Norwegian Edvard Munch created woodcuts and lithographs marked by powerful, highly personal imagery
Rhythm of line and a dramatic sense of colour dominated Expressionism. POP ART PRINTS Pop artists drew their material from the mass media magazines, newspapers, films, and photographs. These were combined formally and repetitively, often resulting in imaginative imagery.
Through the use of advertisements and other dull images, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Indiana set out to challenge graphic tradition. AUSTRALIAN PRINTS Aboriginal printmaking emerged in the 1960's and early 1970's. Although it can be said that it began much earlier in the form of stencilled images of hands that are found on cave walls throughout Australia.
Margaret Preston was a well-known Australian artist. She was very influential during the 1920s to 1940s for her modernist works as a painter and printmaker and for introducing Aboriginal motifs into contemporary art.
Her earliest prints were of etchings, woodcuts (influenced by the Japanese), and woodblock printing.
Margaret Prestons art were quite simple, featuring wild flowers in their natural state. She developed an interest in Aboriginal rock carving and bark painting, which she applied to her prints through the use of symbolism and dried, burnt colours. Many of her prints were hand coloured in rich blues, greens and scarlets.
CONTEMPORARY PRINTS Nowadays, even though traditional printmaking techniques are still used, digital prints using a digital printer allows for variety in printing styles and finishes.
These images can be printed to a variety of surfaces including paper, cloth, or plastic canvas. Accurate colour reproduction and the type of ink used are key to unique high quality from low quality digital prints. High quality digital prints are typically reproduced with very high- resolution data files with very high-precision printers.
Many artists sell prints from original images that have been digitally scanned and then printed, either on their own printers or on someone else's (such as a gallery).
One type of digital print that you will see quite often is called a giclee (zhee-CLAY) print. This technique allows any print made on a specific type of high resolution inkjet printer using special archival inks on archival paper.