Introduction to Printmaking

Transcription

1 Introduction to Printmaking Has different techniques and each one has a unique character Artists may not always do the production work themselves. They may create the master image, supervise the process, and sign the artwork, and it still is considered an original print The production of two or more identical images, signed and numbered by the artist, is called an edition There are three main printing processes: relief, intaglio, and planography

2 Relief Printmaking Relief prints are made by carving away from a block of a suitable material, such as wood or linoleum, to create a raised image-anything can be used if it can be carved into-even food! Ink is applied ink to the raised surface and pressed into paper or similar material by applying pressure The areas of the block that remain unprinted are the carved areas because they are recessed and not inked This is can be a fairly easy process-think stamping like we did in the pattern/randomness exercise!

3 Relief-printing technique.

4 Woodblock & Linocut (Relief) Traditionally, wood has been used for relief prints because it is readily available, familiar to work with, and holds up under the pressure exerted by the printing process; these prints are known as woodcuts A Linocut is where the artist cuts into linoleum. The process is the same. 3 color print

5 Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, (printed later). Print, color woodcut. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

6 Gateway to Art: Hokusai, The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa Woodblock Printing Method He made a drawing of his subject, which a print craftsman then transferred face down onto a block of cherry wood To create a color woodblock print a printer must produce a new relief block for each separate color Nine blocks were used to print The Great Wave The printmaker had to carry out the sequence of printing skillfully because each new color was printed directly on top of the same sheet of paper

7 Intaglio Printmaking Intaglio-derived from an Italian word meaning cut into Intaglio printing differs from relief printmaking because little of the base material is removed The ink on the raised surface is also wiped away before printing, leaving ink in the cut into surface of the plate The pressure of the printing press squeezes the plate against the paper, transferring the ink Intaglio printing

8 Intaglio printmaking technique, general view.

9 Durer hired engravers to make his printing plate, and because the metal plate is much more durable than the woodblock, he could make and sell many more copies Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, Engraving on paper. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

10 Etching (Intaglio) Etching is a process in which a metal plate is covered with an acid-resistant coating, into which the artist scratches the design The plate is then immersed in a bath of acid The acid bites into the metal where the covering has been removed, making grooves that hold the ink

11 Rembrandt brings out details by marring the plate surface more in the areas that will appear darker in the print Rembrandt, Adam and Eve, Etching. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth University, Hanover, New Hampshire

12 Aquatint (Intaglio) Requires an acid bath to etch the surface of the plate The image is created in a coating of powdered rosin or spray paint on the surface of the plate When heated, the rosin melts onto the plate s surface creating a mottled, acid-resistant barrier into which the design is etched Since the rosin leaves irregular areas of the plate exposed, a soft texture me Aquatint printing

13 Francisco Goya, Giant, c Burnished aquatint, first state, sheet size 11¼ x 8¼. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

14 Francisco Goya, Giant This print shows the wash-like appearance of the aquatint process The print has a soft, rich texture The contours of the giant s body are not sharply distinguished Think of charcoal-could the same effect be the acheived?

15 Mezzotint (Intaglio) Mezzotints often produce dark, rich values because the ink has many places to settle To make a mezzotint the entire surface is roughened with a heavy spiked rocking tool, which is a metal object with a spiked, curved bottom The roughened surface is then smoothed in the areas where the printmaker wants the light tones with a burnishing tool

16 Dox Thrash, Defense Worker, c. 1941, Carborundum mezzotint over etched guidelines, 9¾ x 8. Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia

17 Dox Thrash, Defense Worker Thrash wanted to use the dark mood created by mezzotint to reflect the drama and seriousness of the war effort at home Thrash, like other artists of the time, uses the dark values afforded by the medium to express the spirit and strength of the American worker

18 Planographic Printmaking Planographic prints are made from an entirely flat surface The printmaker treats parts of the surface so the ink adheres only to selected areas

19 Lithography(Planographic) Lithography is traditionally done on stone Some artists like lithography because it allows them to draw a design in the same way they do a drawing An artist first draws a design, using a grease pencil or other oil-based drawing material, directly onto a piece of specially selected, cleaned, and prepared limestone The combination of the water-absorbent stone and the oily drawing material work together so that a design in oilbased ink is suspended on the surface to print

20 Honoré Daumier, Rue Transnonain, April 15, Lithograph, 11½ x 17⅝. Private collection

21 Honoré Daumier, Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834 Daumier used his skills combined with the lithographic process to tell the citizens of Paris about an incident of police brutality Thinking that an attack had come from a residence at 12 Rue Transnonain, the authorities entered the house and ruthlessly killed everyone inside

22 Silkscreen Printing (Planographic) Silkscreen printing is one of the most versatile printing processes, capable of placing a heavy coverage of ink on a wide variety of surfaces The image area of the screen is open and allows ink to pass through, while the rest of the screen is masked off Silkscreen

23 Andy Warhol, Double Elvis, Silkscreen ink and silver paint on canvas, 17 ¾ 6 9⅞. Stiftung Sammlung Marx, Hamburger Bahnhof- Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany

24 Andy Warhol, Double Elvis Andy Warhol utilized photosilkscreen over aluminum paint to create a distinctive style He emphasizes the flatness and lack of depth in the character played by Elvis and the deterioration of his original public persona/musical art as his career went on. The doubling clones of Elvis accentuate the degeneration that occurs when an original is copied

25 Monotypes and Monoprints Monotypes and monoprints are print techniques where the artist means to produce a unique image A monotype image prints from a polished plate, perhaps glass or metal Monoprints can be made using any print process

26 Kathy Strauss, Kepler Underneath 1, Monotype over India-inked calculations, Somerset velvet paper, each panel 30 x 23. Collection of the artist

27 Kathy Strauss, Kepler Underneath 1 Painstakingly depicts the Milky Way Galaxy first by incising a series of calculus problems into the metal plate and then completely covering with ink and wiped Strauss then painted the image of the Milky Way in ink directly onto the same plate-then printed the SINGLE, final piece a monotype