Chapter 8-Prints

8.1. Five basic print methods

Prints are created with a matrix, which is the surface on which the design is prepared, with raised areas,
that whne pressure is applied, will transfer the design to the surface of the medium. Prints leave what
are called impression, and the print making technique allows for the same impression to be created may
times over, in almost identical fashion

Because printmaking is called the art of multiples, there is a difference in value between an original print
created by an artists, and commercial prints that are mass produced. We can determine this difference
in the fact, that if the print is handmade ,the artist would be in total control fo the printing process and
would be checking each successive impression for quality. If the images were to the artists standards,
then they are signed in approval, or not signed and destroyed.

The artists also had control over how many impressions will be made, which is called an addition, so
when an artists is signing their work, they will put whatever number that print is over the total number
of prints.

Once the artists is finished, they will cancel the printing surface by scratching across it or destroying the
design so no more prints can be made.

Relief

A relief is defined by when the image that will be printed is raised fom the background, much like a
rubber stamp, in which the background is carved out backwards, so that it will be in the correct
orientation when it is place on the page. In printmaking, wood cut technique is most often used in
reference to relief.

8.2. Preface to the Diamond Sutra. 868. Woodbock handscroll

Artists create woodcuts by drawing their desired imaged onto a piece of wood, which then allows the
artists to essentially gouge out all of the areas that they do not want to print, allowing only the image to
stand out and print.

The block will then be inked, which means only the raised areas will have the ink and the placed on the
paper with pressure ot transfer.

This was one of the earliest examples of a woodcut print that was created in china.

Here we see Buddha preaching, which was part of the earlies know printed book. This was more than
likely a copy of the original drawing which would have been done in brush and ink.

We see here the both the Chinese inventions of paper and printing were combined here on a massive
undertaking as the sroll is 18’ long.

Woodblocks would have been used to print patterns onto textiles starting around the 6 th century ce,
however, no other medium at the time would have been practical to print on, until the development of
paper. In the 15th century we would also see the introduction of the printing press, which launched the
information revolution, as they were now able to print and disseminate information fairly quickly.
Woodcuts would frequently be used for book illustrations, as it could be placed in the same framework
as the letter, allowing the entirety of the page to be printed at one time. The first illustrations in books
were created from woodcuts.

8.3 Kathe Kollwitz. The Widow II from Krieg (War). 1923. Woodcut.

As more “refined” techniques for printmaking developed, woodcut would fall out of popularity with
European artists, but artists would be darwn back to it again around the 20ht century, as instead of
refinement, artists wanted to make bold, stark, statement images.

IN this work we see a dead woman on the gound with the body of her child acreoss here cheast. The
image is chilling and stark. , she uses the white of the page and the black ink to crate dramatic shading.
She also leaves indication that it was a woodcut, as there are traces of the woodcut that she left behind
that are visible underneath the figure.

There were left there are they represented the energy and violent method of cutting and gouging out
the negative space in this technique.

The was one of seven prints, created in the aftermath of WWI, in which we see the traumatic effects of
what happened to those who were left behind, specifically women.

8.4. Utagawa Kunisada. Artisans. 1857. Color woodblock rpinct.

During the 14th century, the Chinese artists had developed woodcuts in the the next step, by creating
multiple blocks, in order to print full color images, this technique would find it’s way to Japan and during
the 18th century the Japanese artists would perfect the method to make these prints world famous.

These prints could be produced by the thousands and were relatively cheap to purchase, and were
wildly popular even though they were not held in the same prestigious regard as painting,

In this image, wee are actually seeing how the woodcut prints were created. We see the woman in the
black robes carving with a mallet a chisel, smaller chisels set next to her for detail work, then we see
another woman to the right who is cutting through the paper in order to transfer her drawing to the
woodblock. We then see all of the colors used for the image on the left hand side of the image.

There is a woman in the center foreground, who is preparing the paper for the image transfer, and then
we see many papers that are hanging from the ceiling to dry.

This would’ve been considred fanciful at the time, because women were depicted doing all of the work,
and this was actually very large for a print.

To create the image, there were at last a dozen cut blocks that were used, one designated and carved
different for each color. There was one block often called the line block, or block key that would have all
of the contour lines, another would pinrt the green floor, another would print the blue sky, etc. Each
block had to be printed individually, meaning that the artists would have to carefully live up with color
to fit within the contours.

This process was called registration, as the printmakers would take create care to ensure the images
would line up with no gapping or overlapping.

If you closely look at this image you will see that there are some registration errors
8.5. Jose Guadalupe Posada. Skeletons as Artisans. 1890-19190. Wood Engraving

Wood engraving also uses the block of wood as a matrix, however, wood engraving cuts across the
woodgrain instead of along the woodgrain. The tools used to cut the wood are very fine, that create
narrochannels, that turn into white lines that we see visible in the bones of the skeletons, the skulls,
shoes, vests.

The black spaces were left by cutting away everything except for the line to be printed.

Here we see skeletons or Calaveras, here giving us a humorous and chaotic scene, in which the artist
was commenting on Mexican Society.

These figures would typically be seen on the Mexican Day of the dead, a day dedicated to honoring the
deceased. Here we see the Calaveras have been depicted as artisans at work to prepare, as they are
creating signs, making clothing, and doing carpentry.

This is a satirical commentary on daily remedial tasks, and how life is short. This artist would often use
the skeletons to poke fun at those high up in Mesican society, allowing the skeletons to be relatable to a
broad audience.

8.6. John Muafangejo. Men are Working in Town. 1981. Linocut.

Linocut technique is very similar to wood cut, except the matrix is made from Linoleum, which is much
softer than wood. Because it is softer it’s easier to work with, however, it is harder to create crisp
impressions as it breaks down faster. There is no grain to the medium, so it can be cut easily from any
direction.

We see here how easy it appears to cut the linoleum as all of the lines appear to be very fluid and
intentional.

This artist from Southern Africa, specialized most of his work in linocuts. Often he would represent the
daily life of the tribal people in the region, who at th time were only allowed to be in what was called
the homelands, “as part of the racial segregation, known as the apartheid. He divded the image into
three resiters, depicting mend working in mines and women doing farm work. All of the registers are
labeled as he wanted his message to be clear, using his art to teach

The goal of his work was to encourage the vision an optimism necessary to achieve racial harmony

8.7. Platemaking methods for intaglio printing

Intaglio is another major printing technique that literally translates from Italian, meaning to cut. Intaglio
is the complete opposite of relief, as the areas that will be printed will be those below the surface of the
plate.

To create the matrix, the artist will use a sharp tool or acid to create depression, grooves, lines, or pit, in
a metal plate. The plate will then be inked, which allows for the ink to enter any of the depressions and
the surface will be wiped clean.

The plate will be placed under pressure on to a dampened piece of paper, which will be pushed into the
depression in order to take the image.
The oldest form of intaglio was created during medieval times, from the technique that was used to cut
the linear design into suits of armour and other metal surface. The artistic skill of the armorers was
highly advance, making this a very easy transition into a printing method.

To do this, as tool called a burin, a sharp v-shaped instrument is used as it can cut lines into the metal.
The more shallow the cut, the lighter and thinner the line would be, and deep grooves would create
thicker and darker lines.

Often engraving looked very similar to the pen and ink technique as the visual and technical ques looked
very similar and they are very difficult to tell apart as they both use cross hatching or stippling. Ask
about how they could tell the difference

8.8. Albrecht Durer. Knight, Death, and the Devil. 1513. Engraving

Engraving would become the main way of creating prints until the invention of lithography and
photography, which would not be seen until the 19 th century. The creators of the prints had to make
extremely accurate copies of drawings, paintings, architecture, statues, etc as this aided in the
dissemination of information across Europe.

Though Durer, fancied himself more a painter, at which he was also very talented, his skill in prints was
what made him famous and were a steady source of income.

He created this in a series of three, which are considered to be so advance and sophisticated that they
are known as master engravings.

We see a knight on his horse, with a loyal dog companion next to him, as they pass a lizard and skull,
both of which are personification of death and then we see the devil next to the path as well. Death
also appears as a skeletal like figure with a crown of snakes.

The knight is also carrying an hourglass as a reminder of the inevitable even of his demise. The devil
behind him we see is a horned beast that also has the legs of a goat and tail of a reptile.

We see here a unmatched level of very rich chiaroscuro, that was created only with very fine hatching,
cross hatching, and stippling. This gave us the illusion of depth, dimension, and so we were able to
understand the various visual textures that we were presented with.

8.9. Mary Cassatt. The Caress. 1891. Drypoint

Drypoint is a technique that is very similar to engraving, but the instrument that is used is a drypoint
needle. This allows the artist to freely draw on a soft metal plate, normally copper. The soft metal
would take the needle scratches and raise thin layers of metal called a burr, it it was left, the burr would
hold ink in addition to the incised line, which would gift a very soft blurry line when printed.

This line could also be scraped off, leaving only the inscised line to hold ink, which would only produce
very fine, delicate line. Since the matrix is soft, only a few prints can be made due to the pressure
necessary to create the prints.

We see here that the lines are all very delicate, but areas such as the hair have a very soft and velvety
quality, which lets us know that the burrs were not removed.
The scraped lines appear very crisp, thin, and delicated. But the scratching qulity allows for very subtle
varioations, allowing for great change in detail and rendering.

8.10. Charles Willson Peale. Benjamin Franklin. 1787. Mezzotint

We do not know who was credited to the invention of most printing techniques except with mezzotint,
as it wwas created by a 17th century artists by the name of Ludwig von Siegen in the Netherlands. Who
was so confident in his method, that he sent it to the king of the Netherlands in 1642, with a note saying
that there would not be anyone who could guess how the technique was done.

Mezzotint was so different because it allowed the artists to create fine tonal areas, especially of grey,
that could be shaded into one another without the use of line.

Instead of using line to carry the ink, this method relies on pits in the plate. It’s also a reverse process,
which means that the artist actually works from dark to light. The entire plate has to be roughed up
with a sharp tool that is called a rocker, which if it was printed at this point, it would be completely black

The lighter tones would be created by smoothing or rubbing out some of the rough areas so that they
would not trap nearly as much ink. The artists does this by going over parts of it, but using a burnisher
or smoothing too, or a scraper in order to wear down these pits and burrs. This give intermediate
values. And where the burrs are completely smoothed away will give the lightest value.

Here we can see the effect of the roughing and smoothing process. Which give the illusion of light,
darks, and dimensionality. The only thing that would have been engraved on the plate would have been
the wording around the frame.

This method would become very popular for reproducing famous painting in black an white for the
public.

8.11. Rembrandt van Rijn. Christ Preaching. Ca. 1652. Etching

Etching is done with acid, as it essentially eats the material to create lines and depressions into the
matrix. To do this the artists convers the plate with the ground, which is an acid resitant substance, that
is created by blending asphalt, beeswax, and other materials.

The artists then draws on the plate with an etching needle, which removes the ground in those areas
that will be exposed which the acid will eat away. Once all of the lines are created, the ground will be
removed so it can be inked and printed.

These lines will not be nearly as sharp and precise as the process of the acid is irregular, however, the
motion of drawing the lines to be etched will create more fluidity in motion.

Rembrandt van Rijn was actually very well known for his etching, however, he never destroyed his
plates, so his work was still being made long after his death, but the plates had work down so badly and
people were greedy so they kept creating “Rembrandts”

Rembrandt used on line here to give us the understanding of light and shading. We see that there are in
a very small and humble area of the town, possible rendered after the Jewish section of Amsterdam that
he would have been familiar with. We see Jesus barefoot and completely bathed in light, preaching to
the crowd. And see that the attention of jesus has falln to a young child, who is too young ot undersand
what is going on, who is doodling on the ground with his finger. Van Rijn was very talented at capturing
scenes like this showing our profound moments of humanity.

8.12. Francisco de Goya. Asta su Abuelo (and so was his grandfather. 1799

Aquatint is a varioation of the etching process, that allows flat areas of gray tones or intermediate values
of color. This technique would not really become popular until 1750 when it was included in French
printmaking manuals, more widely accessible to artists.

For aquatine, the artists covers the plate with finely ground powdered resin, which is then heated so it
sticks to the plate, the resin once cooled, will also resist the acid, which will eat away at anything not
covered when submerged in an acid bath, the longer the bath more material will be taken as the acid
will eat around the resin paticles, creating a pitted surface that will hold the ink evenly. The longer the
bath the more tint will be held and the darker the print

The artist has to work in stages to create this to create the lightest tones, areas of the plate are painted
with an acid stop, meaning that it’s painted with acid resistant varnish, once the desired tone was
reached, other areas would be stopped, and then it would be put in the bath again and again,
successively creating darker tones each step. The resin and stop out varnish would be scrubbed off and
the plate ready to print.

Here Goya is presenting us with a satirical commentary, where he shows an ass proudly showing off the
display of his family genealogy, which shows us a long line of asses. This was meant to speak to the
Spanish aristocracy during his time, who continued to inherit their power and priviledge from a tradition
that went back centuries.

We see the lightest areas on the sleeves, and pants, which would have been the first layer to be
protecture, and then the darker tones, which would have been left unprotected throughout the process
to create the darkest shades.

The graininess that we see is a typical indicator of aquatint and shows us where the resin grains were
located.

Often aquatint would be combined with other types of intaligio as it could only create the tones, not
definied lines.

8.13. Alfred Stieglitz. The Steerage. 1907. Photogravure. 1918-32.

Photogravure was an etching technique used specifically to print photographic images, much like
mezzotint, this could capture continuous tones and like aquatint used powdered resin to create the
plate.

To do this, a full size positive transparency of the photo is placed over a sheet of light sensitized galtin,
meaning that the gelatin was backed with paper, which would then be exposed to uv light.

The gelatin would actually harden in direct response to the amount of light that it had been expose to,
starting at the top and eventually moving through the entire thickness of the gelatin. Areas that were
complete exposed, would completely harden. If there were grey areas, coving the gelatin, then it would
only harden part of the way down.
Once exposure is complete, the gelatin would be placed face down onto a copper plate, which would
effectively reverse the image. The gelatin and plate would be placed in a warm water bath, which would
make the paper let go, and any soft gelatin left to dissolve.

The artist would then be left with a low relief of the image, where the hardened parts of gelatin were
raised and the darker areas would be lower and thinner layer of the gelatin.

The surface would then be dusted with the resin and heated to bind the resin. At this point the plate
would be but through the acid bath and eat through the gelatin to the plate below, this would leave the
lowest layers deeply etched and the raised layers barely etched, which would end up creating the
lightest tone.

The method was originally used to print photos and book illustration for reproductions of paintings.

This shows the artist, Stieglitz, boarding a ship, traveling first class, to Europe. He was walking the deck
and looked down to see the lowest class section on the ship, which was called steerage. He saw a
compose image, as the smokestack was leaning to the left, the iron stairway leaning opposite, and then
the chained drawbridge cutting across everything and then captured every detail of the men, women
and children standing there.

If we could see the image up close, we would see the graininess left by the powdered resin, howeve,r
from a distance it appears just to be soft lines.

8.14. Honore Daumier. Nadar Elevating Photograpy to the Heights of Art. 1962. Lithograph

Lithographs go through a planography process, which means that the printing surface Is flat, and will not
be raised or depressed with relief or intaglio. It works form the process though that oil and water will
not mix.

The artists starts by drawing the image on a stone in some sort of greasy material, typically a grease
based lithographic crayon or greasy ink. The stone would then go through a series of processes,
included an acid treatment that would fix the drawing, essentially binding it to the stone so it would’nt
smudge.

The print the image, the stone would be dampened with water which would soak into the areas that
were not greased and then inked, which the grease in the ink would adhere to the grease in the design
and be repelled by the watered areas, limestone is typically the desired “plate” but it can also be done
with zinc or aluminum plates.

Lithography is is one of the most direct ways to print, and least work intensive, as they are able to draw
on the stones freely as they would on paper. The actual printing is a specialized skill, but those who are
interested are able to work with those who have these skills.

This piece was made for a French Newspaper in a jest at photograrpher Gaspar-Felix-Tournachon, who
typically went by Nadar.

Photography was widely introuduced in the 1830s at it’s invention, and was very popular, especially to
the middle class as they could have their portraits taken at photography studios, which is what we see
below covering the city.
Nadar had a studio, but he was also experimenting with aerial photography.

Artists were very skeptical that this was still art as they though the camera was doing all fo the work.

We are able to see how easy this was, as we can see the lines of the crayon, all which are loose and
sktchy, we can also imagein that the artist was able to quickly draw these type of lines, while the top
hat, jacket, pants, and the figure were much more cafully rendered. We also see familiar shading
techniques fo hatching used, and then there are even flat areas of tone that havev no lineas as well.

8.15. Elizabeth Catlett. Singing Their Songs. 1992.

Lithographs could also be used to capture color as well, by using a stone for each color. So that
registration could be accurate, an onluine fo the image would be transferred onto each stone in a
nongreasy substance that would not print, only to help line up the image.

The stones are then worked through the normal processes.

Here we see a series made by Elizabeth Catlett based on a poem by Margaret walker’s “For my people”.
Which was a powerful use of repetition, as each stanza became more powerful in each dedication,
following a similar moel, Catlett, divinded her space into four areas, the way the poem was divided into
stanzas, and each space was a celebration of a new group of people singing songs, saying prayers, wise
elders looking on, and a young person looking on to the future.

8.16. Ed Ruscha. Standard Station. 1966. Screenprint.

Screenprints are created by putting a fine mesh silk or synthetic fiber in a frame, almost like what we
think of a window screen, also known as silkscreen. The arits would look at drawing of the original, and
stop out areas of the screen that were not meant to be printed by covering these holes, with some type
of glue like material, that would not allow the ink through.

The screen would then be placed on the paper and ink would be forced through with a squeegee.

To create a color screen print, the artist would have to prepare a separate screen for each colors, so if
we were looking at the red screen, anything that wasn’t read would be stopped out. This is a relatively
cheap process, so having more than 20 colors in a print could happen, but would require careful
registration.

Here we see the artists used this method to create vast areas of flat uniform colors. This process is
always very popular for t shirts and postedrs. In the background we actually see a technique called split
fountain, which means that two colors were placed on the same screen and carefully controlled int eh
area in which they would meet.

The artist was inspired by Hollywood and the movies, as we se the sign there stands out as boldly as the
title of a movie on a screen, which is meant to be reminescnet of movie theater marquee. Standard was
the name of the first and probably most famous oil compay, but the artist intentionally left out the word
oil, which let it take on other meanings, such as a norm, a benchmark, a banner, or flag.

This specifically pointed out two obsessive points in American life, the movies and automobile.

8.17. Nicole Eisenman. Untitled. 2012. Monoprint on paper.

Monoprint is kind of the exception to the rules of printmaking as they are made through an indirect
process. As there is only one print made, hence, mono in the title.

To do this, the artist draws on the metal plate with diluted oil paint, then the plate goes through a press
in order to transfer the image to paper. The artist also can place it on paper and rub over it with their
hand to create the transfer. The original will be destroyed so that there can be no multiples made.

Monotypes offer advantages, such as the fact that there is no limit to color or the potential lines or
tones. There is no ressitance from the plate material as it’s 100% smooth and will not need to be
carved, and allows the artist to create freely

Problems can arise hwoever, as the artist will not know how it will look until it comes throught eh press,
colors can spread, smear, and soften. This could also lead to the textures of brushstrokes to go away as
well.

Here we see a romantic encounter between the unshaven and his pet bird that seems to be surpristin to
both of them. We see the brushstorkes were the paint was put on, visibly with the background, his
hand, beard, neck etc. The artist like to work in visual puns, and was more than likely inspired by the
phrase a quick peck on the lips

8.18. Fiona Rae. Cute Motion!! 206. Inkjet with hand collage.

The traditional definition of a print is something that is created from a matrix, however, we have
changed our thinking as we are accepting digital prints. Artists do this with high quality printers, that
use pignment based inks, that will not fade or alter over time.

These can be identified uner magnification, as the dots of colors are the typical cyan, magenta, yellow,
and black that have been overlapped in order to create the image, and looking at the entirety of the
field shows us all of the irregularly spaced colorful dots.

This is much like the digital paintings we have talked about, as this artists also created her intial
compositions on the computer, through photoshop the artist is able to come up with custom colors in
an instant, saving time. Once the composition has gotten to a certain point she is able to freely paint the
design onto a canvas, to then keep designing from there.

Here she kept developing it using brushstokes, paint drips, graphic flowers, letters, plants, animals, and
amny other things that are creating sort of a joyful chaotic scene.

She then will finish the image by gluing on somewhat three dimensional items, such as the googly eyes,
here, or fuzzy spheres, or bows. This art was created with the intent to have fun.

8.19. Pepon Osorio. You’re Never Ready. 2009. Inkjet on confetti, MDF support, loose confetti.

Because print making has becoming industrialized and commercialize, we typically run into all sorts of
things that have been printed, like colthign, ceramics, balloons, and packaging, textiles, electronics, etc.

Because of this, artists have to achieve new levels with the medium, as it has become so common and
commercialized. Prints how now found a way into installations, reaching beyond the scope of
commonly printed things.
Here the artists took an x-ray of his mother’s skull which he then printed onto black and white confetti.

The confetti sits in a pile on the floor and looks as if it has been swept up after a party or something.
The artist found the xray when he was cleaning her house after being moved into a care facility.

He found himself wondering what it was about, so he enlarged the image, and had to persuade a
printed to do an inject print on 100 pounds worth of confetti.

This brings new meaing to it as confetti is something that we associate with celbrations and parties,
whereas he used this as a way to celebrate her life, and try to prepare himself as best he could for her
death, though it was titled you’re never really ready, which indicated that he still would not be when the
time came.

8.21. Swoon (Caledonia Curry). Untitle (Kamaura Woman) 2011. Street Installation in Brooklyn, New
York, 2014. Hand-Colored linocut.

Here we see that the prints have moved to outdoor spaces. The artist creates large linocuts and
woodcust on paper, and then cuts them away form the background to paste them to walls and barriers.

The artists does this to bring attention to the fact that these areas are for expression for the mass
people needing their message to be seen by the workd.

She depict ordinary people that she ahs studied closely, this portrait coming from her travels in brazil.
We see here that this woman looks as if she’s rising up over a construction sigt, holding wildlife and
vegetation in what looks to be some sort of emblem. This woman was one of the Kamayura, who were
indigineous people fighting the Brazilian governmetns from building a dydroelectic damn on one of the
pricipe rivesr of the region and contributor to the Amazon.

They were not successful, and the dam construction displaced many of the people that had been living
along the river.

Her career started as as street artist, but she was picked up by a gallery, and she has been invited to
bring site specific installations to gallerys, though many still exist on walls around the world.