Ch 2.3 (questions)

Chapter 2.3

Printmaking

PART 2MEDIA AND PROCESSES

Copyright © 2011 Thames & Hudson


Chapter 2.3 Printmaking

Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts, Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields

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Introduction

• Printing with inks was first used in China to print patterns on fabrics in the third century CE

• There are many different techniques, and each one gives a unique character to every work it creates

• Artists may not always do the production work themselves. If they create the master image, supervise the process, and sign the artwork, it 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




Context of Printmaking

• The earliest existing printed artworks on paper were created in China and date back to the eighth century CE

• By the ninth century, printed scrolls containing Buddhist sutras (scriptures or prayers) were being made across east Asia

• While the woodblock print remained the primary vehicle for the development of the print in Asia, in the West a number of additional techniques developed over time




Relief Printmaking

• Relief prints are made by carving away from a block of a suitably workable material, such as wood or linoleum, a certain amount of it, to create a raised image

• The artist then applies ink to the raised surface and transfers the image to paper or similar material by applying pressure in a printing press

• The areas of the block that remain print the imagebecause the carved areas are recessed and are not inked




2.41 A brief overview of the relief printing process




Woodblock

• 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

2.42 Albrecht Dürer, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, c. 1497–8. Woodcut, 15⅜ x 11”




Albrecht Dürer, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

• Four Horsemen… is the most famous image in this series of fifteen illustrations and was made from a specially prepared woodblock

• Dürer commissioned professional block cutters toperform the layering, and they also cut the highlydetailed lines of his original drawing into the block

• The Book of Revelation is a symbolic piece of writingthat prophesies the Apocalypse, or end of the world

• The horsemen represent Death, Plague, War, and Famine

2.43 Kitagawa Utamaro, Lovers in an Upstairs Room, from Uta makura (Poem of the Pillow), 1788. Color woodblock print, 10 x 14½”. British Museum, London, England




Kitagawa Utamaro, Lovers in an Upstairs Room

• Uses multiple colors and shows great graphic skill in controlling the crisp character of the print and the interplay of multiple blocks in different colors

• Care must be taken to align each print color perfectly; this registration is done by carving perfectly matching notches along two sides of each block to guide the placement of the paper

• Utamaro made images for the Japanese middle and upper classes of figures, theaters, and brothels, in a style known as ukiyo-e printmaking

• Ukiyo-e means “pictures of the floating world”

2.44 Emil Nolde, Prophet, 1912. Woodcut, printed in black, composition 12⅝ × 8¾”. MOMA, New York




Emil Nolde, Prophet

• Uses the natural character of the wood to suggest the hardships and austerity of the life of his subject

• The crude carving of the block has produced splintering, and the printing has revealed the grain of the wood

• The print’s lack of refinement reflects the raw hardness of the life of a prophet

2.45 Katsushika Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa,” from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, 1826–33 (printed later).Print, color woodcut. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Gateway to Art:




Hokusai, “The Great Wave off Shore at Kanagawa” Using the Woodblock Printing Method

• Hokusai was not solely responsible for the production of this print: he relied on skilled craftsmen

• He made a drawing of his subject, which a print craftsman then transferred face down onto a block of cherry wood

• The craftsman then carved the image into the 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




Intaglio Printmaking

• Intaglio is derived from an Italian word that means “cut into” a surface

• 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 scarred surface of the plate

• The pressure of the printing press squeezes the plate against the paper, transferring the ink







Engraving

• The intaglio engraving method is based on the careful scoring of a metal plate so that clean gouges are created in the surface

• An engraving can achieve fine detail, making the resulting print more like the artist’s original drawing

2.47 Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504. Engraving on paper. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England




Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve

• Dürer had a financial reason for choosing to engravehis work:

• He had to pay 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




Drypoint

• In drypoint the cutting tool is pulled, leaving a rough edge, or burr

• The result is a less precise line that has more irregularities

2.48 Max Beckmann, Adam and Eve, 1917, published 1918. Drypoint, 9⅜ x 7”. Private collection, New York




Max Beckmann, Adam and Eve

• The artist probably chose drypoint because of its slightly uneven, irregular quality of line

• More expressive line is created by the burr




Etching

• 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

2.49 Rembrandt, Adam and Eve, 1638. Etching. Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth University, Hanover, New Hampshire




Rembrandt, Adam and Eve

• Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a master of intaglio printmaking, especially etching

• Rembrandt brings out details by marring the plate surface more in the areas that will appear darker in the print




Aquatint

• Requires the use of an acid bath to etch the surface of the plate

• Water does not play a role in aquatint printmaking• 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 surface of

the plate, creating a mottled, acid-resistant barrier into which the design is etched

• Since the rosin leaves irregular areas of the plate exposed, a soft organic texture (similar to that created when one uses brush and ink) dominates the image

2.50 Francisco Goya, Giant, c. 1818. Burnished aquatint, first state, sheet size 11¼ x 8¼”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York




Francisco Goya, Giant

• This print shows the wash-like appearance of the aquatint process

• The print has a soft, rich implied texture

• The contours of the giant’s body are not sharply distinguished

2.51a Francisco Goya, The Third of May, 1808, 1814. Oil on canvas, 8’4⅜” x 11’3⅞”. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

2.51b Francisco Goya, “And There Is No Remedy,” from Disasters of War, c. 1810

Gateway to Art:




Goya, The Third of May, 1808Prints as Art and as Creative Tools

• Goya sketched scenes of the occupation by Napoleon’s troops, calling them Disasters of War

• Compositionally, there are similarities between the print “And There Is No Remedy” and the later painting The Third of May, 1808

– The firing squad about to shoot its helpless targets is arranged in a strikingly similar way

– The horizontal rifles on the right side of the print create a directional line drawing attention toward the victim

• Goya’s masterpiece The Third of May, 1808 evolved after years of trial and practice in his prints




Mezzotint

• 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

• Ink is removed from the smoothed areas when the plate is wiped: the inked areas create dark tones and the smoothed areas hold less ink to create light tones

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




Dox Thrash, Defense Worker

• Uses mezzotint over etched guidelines

• Thrash wanted to use the dark mood created by mezzotint to reflect the drama and seriousness of the war effort at home

• This work was sponsored by the Works Projects Administration, a government program originally created during the Great Depression to employ Americans at a time when jobs were hard to find

• 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




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




Lithography

• Lithography is traditionally done on stone

• German author Alois Senefelder devised the lithographic printing process in 1796

• 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 oil-based ink is suspended on the surface to print




2.53 A brief overview of the lithography process:

1 The artist designs the image to be printed

2 Using a grease pencil, the design is drawn onto the limestone, blockingthe pores

3 The stone is treated with acid and other chemicals that are brushed ontoits surface

4 The surface is wiped clean with a solvent, such as kerosene

5 The stone is sponged so that water can be absorbed into the pores of the stone

6 Oil-based ink is repelled by the water and sits only on areas where the oil crayon image was drawn

7 Paper is laid on the surface of the stone and it is drawn through a press

8 The paper is removed from the press

2.54 Honoré Daumier, Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834. Lithograph, 11½ x 17⅝”. Private collection




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

• Depicted the aftermath of an incident that took place at Rue Transnonain on April 15, 1834

• Thinking that an attack had come from a residence at12 Rue Transnonain, the authorities entered the house and ruthlessly killed everyone inside

• A father and child lie in the center, flanked by the mother and an elderly family member




Silkscreen Printing

• Silkscreen printing is one of the most versatile printing processes, capable of placing a heavy coverage of ink on a wide variety of surfaces

• Silkscreen printing was first developed in China during the Sung Dynasty and uses a stencil process

• The image area of the screen is open and allows ink to pass through, while the rest of the screen is masked off

2.55 Andy Warhol, Double Elvis, 1963. Silkscreen inkand silver paint on canvas,17’¾” × 6’9⅞”. Stiftung Sammlung Marx, Hamburger Bahnhof-Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin, Germany




Andy Warhol, Double Elvis

• Andy Warhol utilized photographic silkscreen techniques over aluminum paint to create a distinctive style

• The artist deliberately repeats the image of Elvis to comment on the nature of mass-produced images in advertising

• He emphasizes the flatness and lack of depth in the character played by Elvis

• The doubling “clones” of Elvis accentuate the degeneration that occurs when an original is copied




Editions

• Prints are produced in limited numbers of identical impressions, called editions

• The printmaker has the ethical responsibility of making sure each print is similar enough to the others that each person who buys a print has a high-quality image

• When a print is deemed identical to others in the edition it is assigned a number in the production sequence

• Even though they could create more prints than theydo, most artists decide to print a set number of prints: a limited edition




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

2.56 Hedda Sterne, Untitled (Machine Series), 1949. Trace monotype, design 12 x 16⅜”. Harvard Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts




Hedda Sterne, Untitled (Machine Series)

• Sole woman in a group of abstract painters called the Irascibles

• Although abstract, Sterne’s Untitled monotype makes associations with architectural and mechanical images

• Sterne probably employed a straightedge to maintain the regularity of line in the print

2.57 Kathy Strauss, Kepler Underneath 1, 2007. Monotype over India-inked calculations, Somerset velvet paper, each panel 30 x 23”. Collection of the artist




Kathy Strauss, Kepler Underneath 1

• Painstakingly depicts the Milky Way Galaxy

• The artist has first incised a series of calculus problems into the metal plate

• The plate was then completely covered with ink and wiped

• Strauss then painted the image of the Milky Way in ink directly onto the same plate

• Centered the paper over the image and ran it throughthe press

• Because Strauss painted the ink on by hand, she cannot re-create the result exactly in a second print, so it is not part of an edition




Conclusion

• For relief prints artists carve into a flat, comparatively soft surface (often wood or linoleum) to leave an image on the surface of the block

• For intaglio processes, such as engraving, drypoint, and etching, artists cut or gouge into a hard surface

• Planographic printing by lithography allows artists to use their familiar drawing skills with an oily crayon on a specially prepared stone

• Using stencils to block out non-image areas, silkscreen printing is particularly suited to laying down flat areas of heavy color




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Gateways to Art: Understanding the Visual Arts By Debra J. DeWitte, Ralph M. Larmann, M. Kathryn Shields

Copyright © 2011 Thames & Hudson

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2.41 Ralph Larmann2.43 British Museum, London2.44 Museum of Modern Art, New York. Given anonymously (by exchange), Acc. no. 119.1956. Photo 2011,

Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence. © Nolde Stiftung Seebüll2.45 Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Prints & Photographs Division, H. Irving Olds collection, LC-DIG-jpd-

020182.46 Ralph Larmann2.47 Victoria & Albert Museum, London2.48 © DACS 20112.49 Kupferstichkabinett, Museen Preussiches Kulturbesitz, Berlin2.50 Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935, Acc. no. 35.42. Photo Metropolitan Museum

of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence2.51a Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid2.51b Private Collection2.52 Print and Picture Collection, Free Library of Philadelphia. Courtesy Fine Arts Program, Public Buildings

Service, U.S. General Services Administration. Commissioned through the New Deal art projects2.53 Ralph Larmann2.54 Private Collection2.55 © The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/DACS London

20112.56 Fogg Art Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Margaret Fisher Fund, M25276. Photo Imaging Department ©

President & Fellows of Harvard College. © ARS, NY and DACS, London 20112.57 © Kathy Strauss 2007

Picture Credits for Chapter 2.3

• 1. Printing with inks was first used in which country in the third century ce?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Afghanistan◦ b. China◦ c. Italy◦ d. Germany◦ e. none of these◦ Feedback/Reference:

Page 192

• 1. Printing with inks was first used in which country in the third century ce?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Afghanistan◦ b. China◦ c. Italy◦ d. Germany◦ e. none of these◦ Feedback/Reference:

Page 192

• 2. The German artist Albrecht Dürer created the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse using which relief printmaking method?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. woodcut◦ b. linocut◦ c. etching◦ d. engraving◦ e. lithography◦ Feedback/Reference:

Pages 193–94

• 2. The German artist Albrecht Dürer created the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse using which relief printmaking method?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. woodcut◦ b. linocut◦ c. etching◦ d. engraving◦ e. lithography◦ Feedback/Reference:

Pages 193–94

• 3. When creating a multi-color print, the alignment of blocks or plates to ensure that the colors will appear in the correct location is called ______.

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. orientation◦ b. directing◦ c. piloting◦ d. registration◦ e. none of these◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

194

• 3. When creating a multi-color print, the alignment of blocks or plates to ensure that the colors will appear in the correct location is called ______.

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. orientation◦ b. directing◦ c. piloting◦ d. registration◦ e. none of these◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

194

• 4. Hokusai and Albrecht Dürer were printmakers who lived at different times and in different countries, but they had this in common:

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. they both produced images

about the decadent upper classes.◦ b. they were both right-handed.◦ c. they were both Protestant

Christians.◦ d. they both had unhappy

marriages to multiple wives.◦ e. they both relied on skilled

craftsmen to execute their print editions.

◦ Feedback/Reference: Pages 194–95

• 4. Hokusai and Albrecht Dürer were printmakers who lived at different times and in different countries, but they had this in common:

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. they both produced images

about the decadent upper classes.◦ b. they were both right-handed.◦ c. they were both Protestant

Christians.◦ d. they both had unhappy

marriages to multiple wives.◦ e. they both relied on skilled

craftsmen to execute their print editions.

◦ Feedback/Reference: Pages 194–95

• 5. Max Beckmann exploited the irregular character of drypoint for his version of Adam and Eve because it fit the style of which group with whom he was affiliated?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Futurist◦ b. Expressionist◦ c. Surrealist◦ d. Impressionist◦ e. Fauves◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

196

• 5. Max Beckmann exploited the irregular character of drypoint for his version of Adam and Eve because it fit the style of which group with whom he was affiliated?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Futurist◦ b. Expressionist◦ c. Surrealist◦ d. Impressionist◦ e. Fauves◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

196

• 6. This material, derived from tree sap, is important in aquatint, a printmaking process that emulates the appearance of water-based media.

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. oil crayon◦ b. burin◦ c. rosin◦ d. edition◦ e. linocut◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

197

• 6. This material, derived from tree sap, is important in aquatint, a printmaking process that emulates the appearance of water-based media.

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. oil crayon◦ b. burin◦ c. rosin◦ d. edition◦ e. linocut◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

197

• 7. Francisco Goya created a series of works with horrific subjects, titled ______.

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Adam and Eve◦ b. Murder at the Rue

Morgue◦ c. The Disasters of War◦ d. Acts of Man and Nature◦ e. none of these◦ Feedback/Reference:

Page 198

• 7. Francisco Goya created a series of works with horrific subjects, titled ______.

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Adam and Eve◦ b. Murder at the Rue

Morgue◦ c. The Disasters of War◦ d. Acts of Man and Nature◦ e. none of these◦ Feedback/Reference:

Page 198

• 8. Which German author devised the lithographic printing process because he wanted to use a cheaper printing method?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Goethe◦ b. Nietzsche◦ c. Hesse◦ d. Mann◦ e. Senefelder◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

199

• 8. Which German author devised the lithographic printing process because he wanted to use a cheaper printing method?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Goethe◦ b. Nietzsche◦ c. Hesse◦ d. Mann◦ e. Senefelder◦ Feedback/Reference: Page

199

• 9. At one point in the lithography process, the artist must wipe the stone clean with which solvent to prepare for the inking?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. water◦ b. soda water◦ c. lye◦ d. kerosene◦ e. nitric acid◦ Feedback/Reference:

Page 200

• 9. At one point in the lithography process, the artist must wipe the stone clean with which solvent to prepare for the inking?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. water◦ b. soda water◦ c. lye◦ d. kerosene◦ e. nitric acid◦ Feedback/Reference:

Page 200

• 10. Andy Warhol produced silkscreen prints depicting many celebrities, including which singer/actor who was shown in a double portrait?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Elvis Presley◦ b. Will Smith◦ c. Bing Crosby◦ d. Madonna• e. Rodney Dangerfield

• 10. Andy Warhol produced silkscreen prints depicting many celebrities, including which singer/actor who was shown in a double portrait?

◦ Topic: n/a◦ a. Elvis Presley◦ b. Will Smith◦ c. Bing Crosby◦ d. Madonna• e. Rodney Dangerfield

Education

Ch 2.3 (questions)