1. 8
Printmaking

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

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

4. Introduction Tanja Softic, Quiver Prints 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]
Tanja Softic. Quiver Lithograph. 20" × 52". University of Richmond. [Fig. 8-1]

6. Introduction Prints Made from a matrix Edition Often numbered
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]
Relief. [Fig. 8-2]

11. Relief Relief prints Woodcut
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 –1833. 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]
Utagawa Hiroshige. Shono hakuu (Light Rain at Shono), number –1833. 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 Color woodcuts
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]
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. 1937. Wood engraving
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]
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. 1970
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]
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). 2004
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]
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]
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]
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 Dürer's complex prints

27. Albrecht Dürer. The Knight, Death, and the Devil. 1513. Engraving
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]
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]
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 Dürer's precise lines
Skillful use of light and shadow provided by this medium

32. Rembrandt van Rijn. Christ Preaching. c. 1652
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]
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. 1891
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, © 2013 Image copyright The MoMA/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 8-12]
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, © 2013 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]
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 Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
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, 1834. 1834. Lithograph
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]
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. 1892
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]
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
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his studio. Photograph courtesy of Patrick Frank. [Fig. 8-16]
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec in his studio. Photograph courtesy of Patrick Frank. [Fig. 8-16]

44. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Aristide Bruant. 1893. Lithograph
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]
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
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. 2009. Stencils and mixed media on canvas
Kim McCarthy. Urban Buddha Stencils and mixed media on canvas. 36" × 48". [Fig. 8-18]
Kim McCarthy. Urban Buddha Stencils and mixed media on canvas. 36" × 48". [Fig. 8-18]

47. Stencil and 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. Screenprinting. [Fig. 8-19]
Video: Studio Technique: Silkscreen
Screenprinting. [Fig. 8-19]
Screenprinting. [Fig. 8-19]

49. Stencil and 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. 1982. Silkscreen. 22" × 17"
Ester Hernández. Sun Mad Silkscreen. 22" × 17". Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 8-20]
Ester Hernández. Sun Mad Silkscreen. 22" × 17". Courtesy of the artist. [Fig. 8-20]

51. Stencil and 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". © 2013 The Murray-Holman Family Trust/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 8-21]
Elizabeth Murray. Exile from Thirty-Eight Color lithograph/screenprint with pastel application. 30" × 23" × 2-1/2". © 2013 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. 2004–2005. Aquatint, photogravure, and plasticine. 13" × 10". © the artist. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery. [Fig. 8-22]
Ellen Gallagher. "Mr. Terrific" from Deluxe. 2004–2005. 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. 2006. Woodblock and lithography on mylar
Nicola López. Blighted Woodblock and lithography on mylar. 20' × 22'. Caren Golden Fine Art/the artist. [Fig. 8-23]
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. 2006. Mixed media
Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz. Traveler CLXXXVI Mixed media. 9" × 6" × 6" © the artists. [Fig. 8-24]
Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz. Traveler CLXXXVI Mixed media. 9" × 6" × 6" © the artists. [Fig. 8-24]