Introduction to Art Chapter Seven: Printmaking

Printmaking

The technique of creating a design on a matrix and transferring that design to a surface

Matrix/plate

In printmaking, the surface that the artist manipulates that will create the print

Print

An image made by an artist’s creating a design on one surface and transferring that design to another surface

Impression

A single print out of the total number of prints pulled from a printmaking matrix

Ukiyo-e

Japanese for “pictures of the transparent world”; woodcut prints created in the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries in Japan that focused on the everyday world

Printmaking as a collaborative process

Publisher to artist to carver to printer to publisher

Original print

A print created from a design made by an artist, on a matrix created or supervised by an artist, and pulled by hand under the artist’s supervision

Edition

The total number of original prints pulled from a matrix by an artist or under an artist’s supervision, not counting any proofs

State

A proof stage of a print pulled while the plate is being developed to see how the plate is shaping up

Proof

A trial print made before the regular edition is pulled

Relief

A matrix in which the raised areas on the surface hold the ink and print and the areas that are carved away do not print

Relief methods

Woodcut, Wood engraving, and linocut

Woodcut

The background of a design is cut away on a wood-block plank, so that the lines of the image remain raised and will print (oldest, dark lines and white background)

Wood-engraving

The lines of a design are cut away on an end-grain wood block, so that the background of an image remains and will print (white lines on a dark background, fine lines)

Linocut

The background and/or lines of a design are cut away on a piece if linoleum, so that any areas of an image that remain raised will print

Intaglio

Italian for “cut into”; a matrix in which the carved-out areas below the surface hold the ink and print and the areas on the surface of the plate do not print (process: create sunken lines, force ink into the depression, use a strong press)

Intaglio methods

Engraving, dry point, etching, aquatint

Engraving

Lines are cut into a metal plate (painstaking, precise, controlled…uses a BURIN)

Drypoint

Lines are scratched into a metal plate, raising a metal ridge (fuzzy/blurred, uses a NEEDLE…the ridge slowly wears away, so the newer prints are better)

Etching

Lines are drawn on a metal plate that is covered with an acid-resistant ground. The plate is then soaked in an acid bath, where acid bites into the exposed lines (lines aren’t as crisp as engraving because the acid creates grooves rather than a tool)

Aquatint

A powdery, acid-resistant ground is applied to a metal plate. Areas that are not supposed to be bitten are covered with varnish. The plate is soaked in an acid bath, and acid bites into the areas around each ground particle (was made to create tones-this has no lines)

Planographic

A matrix in which the flat surface prints…lithography is a method of this

Lithography

Greek for “stone drawing”; a printmaking technique in which the matrix is made from a stone and print and nonprinting areas are separated chemically, since grease and water don’t mix (paint with a greasy material, wet the stone, roll the surface with greasy ink which clings to the drawing)

Stencil

A flat masking material in which a design has been cut to allow ink or paint to pass through the open areas onto a surface below

Screenprinting/silkscreen/serigraphy

printing technique in which stencil is attached to a mesh surface and ink is pushed through

Register (in previous)

A technique of alignment used with color printmaking to ensure that successive matrices print their respective colors in the right place on the paper