Dampened paper and a protective cloth are placed over the plate, which is squeezed through an etching press — the pressure forcing the paper into the etched lines to pick up the ink. Etching has often been used to achieve extremely delicate black and white images, from the Old Master period through to modern times. Rembrandt famously used this technique to achieve atmospheric effects, and Lucian Freud continued the tradition into the 21st century. Cecily Brown b.
Etching with aquatint in colors. Lithography: The artist draws onto stone using a grease-based medium — normally special lithographic crayons, or greasy ink known as tusche. The stone is then treated with a chemical solution that ensures the image will attract printing ink, and that blank areas repel ink and attract water. Oil-based ink is then applied to the stone with a roller, adhering only to the image. Finally, the stone is placed on a lithographic press and covered with damp paper and board — a pressure bar ensuring force is evenly applied across the image.
The image is printed in reverse, with separate stones used for complex images of multiple colours. Helen Frankenthaler , The Red Sea , Lithograph in colors.
Lithography opened up printmaking to artists otherwise reluctant to learn the technical skills needed to create woodcuts or etchings, since many of the same tools, such as brushes and pencils, can be used. Screenprint: An image is cut into a sheet of paper or plastic film, creating a stencil.
A sheet of paper is placed below the screen, and ink is pushed through the stencil from above, using a rubber blade or squeegee. Only cut-out portions of the stencil print. In addition to stencils, a photographic image can be reproduced on the screen using light-sensitive gelatins. This was a hugely important innovation for Andy Warhol and other members of the Pop generation, who would appropriate commercial photographs and popular images in tandem with the technique.
Andy Warhol , The Star, from Myths , Screenprint in colors with diamond dust. Woodcut: An image is sketched on a block of wood before the surface is carved into with gouging tools. The resulting raised portions of the block are then coated in ink using a roller.
Woodcut is the oldest printmaking process. It was of particular interest to the German Expressionists including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner , and it continues to be relevant today — artists such as Donald Judd , Damien Hirst and Helen Frankenthaler have all used it. Although printmaking involves reproducing an image, a print is more than just a copy of an original.
Fine art prints are something else entirely, resulting from a close collaboration between the artist and the print studio. Ink is applied and wiped off so only the ink remained in the engraved lines and the image is then pressed onto paper to produce the image.
Lithograph prints were invented later, in the late 18th century by a German writer, Alois Senefelder, in How does a lithograph work? Lithography refers to a lithograph print that is made from an image which has been applied to a flat surface. It is a method of printing based on the principle that oil and water do not mix. Printing is done from a stone lithographic limestone or a metal plate with a grained surface; using oil-based inks. How do you make a lithograph?
Draw an image in reverse on a limestone or a zinc or aluminum plate. Sprinkle rosin on the surface to protect the drawing. Apply the etch, which is a solution of gum Arabic and nitric acid, to the stone and leave it on for an hour or so. Sponge the stone or plate with water. Load damp paper in the lithography press. Are Picasso lithographs worth anything? There are, of course, original Picasso lithographs, executed by the artist's own hands, and printed in small editions that were verified and recorded in a proper catalog raisonn.
These have genuine value. The others have no significant value whatsoever. Is an engraving a print? An engraving is a print that was made using an engraved printing plate. The basic process is to engrave the image on a metal plate, apply ink to the plate, wipe it so the ink only remains in the engraved lines, then press it onto paper to produce a print of the image.
When the block is then inked and pressed onto the paper, the printed image is only that of the raised surface. Like a stamp? A linocut is a process of placing and mounting a sheet of linoleum on a woodblock to create the relief surface for an image.
The three terms, Screenprint, silkscreen, and serigraph are all terms for the same method of printing. The term silkscreen was used early on because of the fact that, the screen was made from silk. Any one of these terms is correct to describe this method of printing.
The earliest reports of silkscreening can be traced back to the Song Dynasty of China. The crude printmaking technique of that time was later refined by the Japanese, who introduced the process to European traders in the s. It was in early when an Englishman named Samuel patented the screen making technique that he used primarily to make quality custom wallpaper or to print on silk or linen for the very wealthy.
We can only wonder if Warhol got his idea from researching the longer history of silkscreening. Andy Warhol and Gerard Malanga silkscreening the background onto a Flowers painting. He explained his personal process of silkscreening perfectly with the following comment.
With silk screening, you can pick a photograph, blow it up, transfer it in glue onto silk, and then roll ink across it so the ink goes through the silk but not through the glue.
That way you get the same image, slightly different each time. It all sounds so simple — quick and chancy. I was thrilled with it. My first experiments with screens were head of Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty, and then when Marilyn Monroe happened to die that month August , I got the idea to make screens of her beautiful face. The history of Andy Warhol and the Pop Art revolution is compelling and important enough to be the sole subject of another essay in the future. Stay tuned. Sometimes, I get clients asking if a lithograph is better than an etching or a screenprint and I try to explain that this is not the right question.
They are all printing methods for the artists, and no one method is superior to the other. But one method of printmaking can be more important for a particular artist or period of time.
And depending on the artist, etching was also an important method used. The method of importance generally comes down to the artist and the period of their work. Today, you may also encounter the term giclee. Giclee is the process of printing digital art images with an ink printer.
The jury is out as to whether we should consider this to be a legitimate form of printmaking in the artistic sense, but we should recall that the jury was out when Warhol introduced his amazing silkscreening techniques in the s.
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