Printmaking & Photography

Printmaking & Photography offer an artist the

opportunity to create multiple images.
In printmaking, the artist does this by repeatedly
transferring an original design from one prepared
surface to other surfaces.
Printmaking & Photography, Cont’d.
In photography, black-and-white or color images are first
obtained with the use of light rather than pencil, pen, or
brush.
Both printmaking and photography can then be reproduced to
serve specific purposes – one of these is to accurately portray
people, objects, and events in newspapers, books, and
magazines.
 Printmaking
Relief Printing, Intaglio,
Lithography, and Screen Printing
Printmaking
Printing was discovered long ago when someone realized that
by pressing an inked surface of a raised design against
another surface, a copy was made.
Chinese artists were printing with carved wooden blocks over
1,000 years ago!
Possible 1st uses – repeated patterns on textiles, paper, and in
order to create paper money.
Printmaking, Cont’d.
Printmaking did not develop in Europe until the 15th century,
in time to meet the growing demand for inexpensive religious
pictures and playing cards.
Later, used to provide illustrations for books with moveable
type.
This moveable type was invented by Johannes Gutenburg.
Made it possible to create pages of books by using the same
metal type over and over.
Four Basic Printmaking Methods

1. Relief
2. Intaglio
3. Lithography
4. Screen Printing
Relief Printing
The image to be printed is raised from the background.
1st – The artist cut away the sections of a surface not meant
to hold ink.
2nd – The remaining raised portion is then covered with ink
and becomes the printing surface.
3rd – Paper is laid upon it, pressure applied, and the ink is
transferred to the paper.
Relief, Cont’d.
Printing with carved wooden blocks originated in
China and spread to Japan where it became a highly
developed art form.
Intaglio
The reverse of Relief printing.
A process which ink is forced to fill lines cut into a metal
surface. The term means “cut into”.
Two methods – etching and engraving
Etching – 1st – A copper or zinc plate is first covered with a
coating made of a mixture of beeswax, asphalt, and resin
(ground).
2nd – The artist uses a fine needle to draw an image through
this protective coating.
Etching, Cont’d.
3rd – When the plate is placed in acid, it bites or etches the
lines into the metal where the ground has been removed.
4th - The remaining ground is then removed, the plate inked,
the unetched surface is cleaned, and damp paper is pressed
onto the plate with a press.
This forces the paper into the inked grooves, transferring the
image.
Night Shadows. Edward Hopper - 1921
Engraving
In an engraving, the lines are cut directly into the metal plate
with a burin (engraving tool).
The lines made in this way are more pronounced and clear
than the fine lines produced by the etching process.
When the prints have been made, you can actually feel the
lines of raised ink on etchings and engravings.
 St Eustace
c. 1501
Engraving, 355 x 259
mm
Fogg Art Museum,
Cambridge
Lithography
There is a printing process based on the principle that grease
and water do not mix.
It is the printmaking method in which the image to be printed
is drawn on limestone, zinc, or aluminum with a specialized
greasy crayon.
1st – When the drawing is completed, it is chemically treated
with a nitric-acid solution. This makes the sections that have
not been drawn on resistant to the printing ink.
Lithography
2nd - The surface is dampened with water and then inked.
The surface is dampened with water and then inked. The
greasy printing ink sticks to the equally greasy crayoned areas
but is repelled by the wet, blank areas.
3rd – The surface is covered with paper and run through a
press to transfer the image.
Screen Printing
More recent
In screen printing paint is forced through a screen onto paper or fabric.
1st - A stencil is placed on a silk or synthetic (man-made) fabric screen
stretched across a frame.
2nd – The screen is placed on the printing surface, and squeegee is used
to force the ink through the porous fabric in areas not covered by the
stencil.
A separate screen will need to be made if you are using more than one
color.
Serigraph – A screen print that has been handmade by an artist.
 Ed Ruscha, American
Standard Station, 1966
Color screenprint
 Bob Howard
"Hawaiian Sunset"
Serigraph- 28" x 22"
Photography
Appear everywhere – newspapers, magazines, and
books.
A technique of capturing optical images on light-
sensitive surfaces.
Artists can create powerful images that teach others
how to see, feel, and remember.
Albert Stieglitz
He used his talent and camera to place viewers on a
bridge spanning a canal in Venice.
The viewers can share a brief, magical moment in
time with the photographer.
He was married to Georgia O’Keeffe.
Works like this inspired other artists like Ansel Adams.
Albert
Stieglitz
A Bit of Venice
Albert Stieglitz
1894
Ansel Adams
Stieglitz urged Adams to continue where he was forced to
leave off due to age and health.
Adams responded with thousands of photographs that marked
a career covering nearly a half a century.
He photographed everything from the unsettling stillness of a
New Mexico moonrise to the majesty of a Yosemite winter
storm.
 The Photographer:

Ansel Adams
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite Valley - 1944
Monolith, The Face
Of Half Dome
[1926]
Imogen Cunningham
Her work combines a sensitivity for simple forms and
a straightforward photographic technique.
She works closely to her subjects.
She was able to create an image that seems to pull
viewers into it.
Imogen became widely
known for her portraits,
flower images, and nudes.
She worked as a
photographer until her
death at the age of ninety-
three in 1976.
Several of her
photographs were
published by her son
after her death…
Man Ray
Created immediate photographic images by placing objects
directly onto the light-sensitive paper and exposing them to
light.
This was an innovation like no other in photography.
This artist once dressed a crowd in white, set them dancing
on a white dance floor, and projected movies on them.