Prebles' Artforms An Introduction to the Visual Arts

Transcription

1 Prebles' Artforms An Introduction to the Visual Arts ELEVENTH EDITION CHAPTER 8 Printmaking

2 Learning Objectives 1. Define printmaking terms such as print, matrix, edition, and artist's proof. 2. Summarize the origins of printmaking in China and Western Europe. 3. Identify the artistic, social, and political functions of prints.

3 Learning Objectives 4. Distinguish methods of relief, intaglio, and lithographic printmaking processes. 5. Recognize the use of stencils, screenprinting, and digital technologies as contemporary forms of printmaking. 6. Compare the sculptural practice of working in editions to printmaking.

4 Introduction Tanja Softic, Quiver Layering of images Each layer with its own color Meditation on fragile structures Relates to process of memory Artist making "visual poems" Prints One of a series of nearly identical pieces, usually printed on paper

5 Discovering Art: Printmaking Tanja Softic. Quiver Lithograph. 20" 52". University of Richmond. [Fig. 8-1]

6 Introduction Prints Made from a matrix Created from metal, wood, or stone Edition Group of images from the same matrix Often numbered Indicates the sequence of pulled prints Progressive proofs Artist's proof (AP) a satisfactory stage

7 Introduction Print editions Can be defined as works of art with siblings, but all original "Mimicking what we are as humans" All the same, yet every individual is different

8 Purposes of Printmaking Developed in China in the ninth century Picture printing By eleventh century, moveable type Developed in Europe in fifteenth century Demand for inexpensive religious icons and playing cards Illustrating books with moveable type

9 Purposes of Printmaking Reasons to make prints Less expensive than paintings or sculpture so they can be purchased by a wider group of viewers Easy way to influence social change via wide distribution, in comparison to unique works of art Fascination with the process and craft

10 Relief. [Fig. 8-2]

11 Relief Relief prints Example in fingerprints, rubber stamps, and wet tires Woodcut Woodcuts or woodblocks Lends itself to bold black-and-white contrast Does not easily lend itself to color

12 Relief Woodcut Limited to a couple hundred editions due to deteriorating relief edges Flourished in Japan 17th to 19th centuries Multiple blocks to achieve subtle and highly integrated color effects Preferred method of middle-class

13 Closer Look: Technique: Multicolor Woodblock Printing Utagawa Hiroshige. Shono hakuu (Light Rain at Shono), number Full-color woodcut. 8-7/8" 13-3/4". Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum. Purchased from the Frank Lloyd Wright Collection. [Fig. 8-3]

14 Relief Woodcut Flourished in Japan Subject matter range from famous theater actors, landscapes, erotic images Influenced Impressionist and Post- Impressionist painters Hiroshige's Light Rain at Shono Color woodcuts Multiple woodblocks registered, or aligned, carefully

15 Relief Woodcut Emil Nolde's Prophet Contrasts Hiroshige's delicate, detailed print Expressive face of an old man Reveals character of wood and woodcut process Simplified pattern conveys emotional intensity

16 Video: Studio Technique: The Printmaking Process of Woodcut Emil Nolde. Prophet Woodcut (Cat. Rais. Schiefler-Mosel 110). 12-1/2" 8-13/16". National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Rosenwald Collection Nolde Stiftung Seebuell. [Fig. 8-4]

17 Relief Wood engraving Traditionally used for book illustration Very dense wood set on end Durable, large editions possible Use of metal tools Kent, Workers of the World, Unite Fine detail in the body and background Socially conscious printmaking Farmer defending his territory

18 Rockwell Kent. Workers of the World, Unite Wood engraving. 8" 5-1/8". Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for the Graphic Arts. Gift of the American College Society of Print Collectors Courtesy of the Plattsburgh State Art Museum, State University of New York, Rockwell Kent Gallery and Collection, Bequest of Sally Kent Gorton. [Fig. 8-5]

19 Linocut Linoleum cut or linocut Gouging of synthetic linoleum surface in areas not intended to take ink Functions as soft matrix No grain and can be cut with equal ease in any direction Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper Even, white gouges Dignified images of African Americans

20 Elizabeth Catlett. Sharecropper Color linocut on cream Japanese paper. 21-7/16" 20-3/16". The Art Institute of Chicago Restricted Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Hartman Photography The Art Institute of Chicago. Catlett Mora Family Trust/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY. [Fig. 8-6]

21 Linocut Betsabeé Romero Contemporary artist of Mexico City Buys used tires with eroded treads to carve relief patterns in them Based on traditional Mexican pop culture motifs such as skeletons and flowers Easily inked for printing on long sheets Sold by the yard or exhibited together with the tires

22 Betsabeé Romero. Ciudades que se van (Cities on the Move) Tires and relief prints. Each tire 23-5/8" diameter 6-19/64" wide. Four prints on domestic fabric, each 59' 19-11/16". Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 8-7a]

23 Betsabeé Romero. Del otro lado de la velocidad (On the Other Side of Speed). Tire. 51-3/16" 15-3/4". Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 8-7b]

24 Intaglio Areas below the surface hold the ink. From Italian word intagliare, "to cut into" Process Ink daubed on surface Surface wiped clean except in grooves Damp paper passes beneath press roller Characteristic plate marks of roller

25 Video: Studio Technique: Intaglio Printmaking Intaglio. [Fig. 8-8]

26 Intaglio Engraving Artist uses a burin, or engraving tool, on metal plate Takes strength and control Scraper smoothes down rough edges of the groove Lines not drawn freely due to pressure Seen in United States currency Albrecht Du rer's complex prints

27 Albrecht Dürer. The Knight, Death, and the Devil Engraving. Plate 9-5/8" 7-1/2". National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Rosenwald Collection [Fig. 8-10]

28 Intaglio Drypoint Similar to line engraving Tool with steel or diamond tip Soft copper or zinc plate Displaced metal leaves burr, a rough edge Creates blurred line Small editions and rarely done Mostly used to fill in details of etchings

29 Drypoint Plate. [Fig. 8-9]

30 Intaglio Etching Preparation of a metal plate (copper or zinc) with wax or varnish Artist draws through surface to expose metal Plate immersed in nitric acid that makes a groove according to: Strength of the acid Amount of time plate is in the acid bath

31 Intaglio Etching Lines generally more relaxed, irregular than engraved lines Rembrandt, Christ Preaching Compared to Du rer's precise lines Skillful use of light and shadow provided by this medium

32 Rembrandt van Rijn. Christ Preaching. c Etching, engraving, and drypoint. Plate 6-1/16" 8-1/8". National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Gift of W.G. Russell Allen [Fig. 8-11]

33 Mary Cassatt. The Letter Drypoint and aquatint, printed in color from three plates. 13-5/8" 8-15/16". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Gift of Paul J. Sachs, Image copyright The MoMA/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 8-12]

34 Intaglio Etching Aquatint Technique of sprinkling acid-resistant powder over areas that need gray tone Varying values Combined with other techniques in Mary Cassat's The Letter Today, electroetching seeks to avoid endangering artist's health from acids.

35 Lithography Surface or planographic printing process based on mutual antipathy of oil and water Faster and more flexible method Process Artist draws image on Bavarian limestone or plate without cutting. Using litho crayons/pencils or tusche liquid

36 Video: Studio Technique: Lithography Lithography. [Fig. 8-13]

37 Lithography Process Completed image treated with gum arabic Surface dampened with water and inked Since surface remains intact, lithographic stones or plates can be reused. Provided ease of printing in the early 1800's

38 Lithography Honoré Daumier One of the first lithographic artists Rue Transnonain Captures event of militia killing many innocent tenants of an apartment Published the day after the event Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Hundreds of innovative works Bright colors and flattened compositions

39 Lithography Offset technique Used in printed books that have pictures Each image burned onto a metal lithographic plate, then inked Ink is first transferred onto a rubber cylinder before printing on paper Suited to rotary presses

40 Honoré Daumier. Rue Transnonain, April 15, Lithograph. 11-1/4" 17-3/8". The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Ralph King [Fig. 8-14]

41 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Ambassadeurs: Aristide Bruant Color tusche and spatter lithograph /16" 36-1/4". The Baltimore Museum of Art: Nelson and Juanita Greif Gutman Collection, BMA Photography by Mitro Hood. [Fig. 8-15]

42 Forming Art Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Printing from Life Creative use of lithographic medium Friendship with cabaret singer Aristide Bruant Window into a commission for the prestigious Les Ambassadeurs nightclub Portrait of Bruant captures state of reserved emotion Favored by Bruant despite critics

43 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his studio. Photograph courtesy of. [Fig. 8-16]

44 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Aristide Bruant Lithograph. 10-1/2" 8-1/4". National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Rosenwald Collection [Fig. 8-17]

45 Stencil and Screenprinting Stencil A sheet with a design cut out of it Painting over it transfers the design to the picture plane. A way to make multiple works of art Favored by street artists Shading not possible in this method Kim McCarthy, Urban Buddha Demonstrates subtle, repeated patterns

46 Kim McCarthy. Urban Buddha Stencils and mixed media on canvas. 36" 48". [Fig. 8-18]

47 Stencil and Screenprinting Screenprinting Also known as silkscreen or serigraphy From traditional use of silk as material Adheres stencil to a screen Rubber edged tool (squeegee) pushes ink through the fabric in open areas of the stencil Good for producing uniform color

48 Video: Studio Technique: Silkscreen Screenprinting. [Fig. 8-19]

49 Stencil and Screenprinting Screenprinting No reversal of the image as in other printmaking processes Lends itself to poster production Ester Hernández, Sun Mad Memorable protest against the use of pesticides

50 Ester Hernández. Sun Mad Silkscreen. 22" 17". Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 8-20]

51 Stencil and Screenprinting Screenprinting Photo screen Latest development using light-sensitive gelatin to screen fabric Elizabeth Murray, Exile Takes both methods to the limit "23-color lithograph and screenprint construction with collage and pastel" as described by artist

52 Closer Look: Elizabeth Murray, Exile Elizabeth Murray. Exile from Thirty-Eight Color lithograph/screenprint with pastel application. 30" 23" 2-1/2" The Murray-Holman Family Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 8-21]

53 Contemporary Approaches More artists taking on new technologies, third dimension Ellen Gallagher Deluxe Advertisements from magazines directed at black audience altered by plasticine shapes "Mr. Terrific" one of 60 panels Self-fashioning satire

54 Ellen Gallagher. "Mr. Terrific" from Deluxe Aquatint, photogravure, and plasticine. 13" 10". the artist. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. [Fig. 8-22]

55 Contemporary Approaches Digital matrices Made with a keyboard and mouse Infinitely reproducible Gilbert and George's print made available for 36 hours Unlimited number of downloads Nicola López, Blighted Installation of remembering 9/11/2001 Printed on transparent Mylar

56 Nicola López. Blighted Woodblock and lithography on mylar. 20' 22'. Caren Golden Fine Art/the artist. [Fig. 8-23]

57 Contemporary Approaches Editioned works Made in multiple copies, but not necessarily traditional techniques Three-dimensional molds Martin and Muñoz, Travelers series Borrows snow globe format Parody of souvenir-shop globes Tourists and hikers in grim, precarious positions

58 Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz. Traveler CLXXXVI Mixed media. 9" 6" 6" the artists. [Fig. 8-24]