Printmaking: Bringing
Historic Processes to the Present
An Exhibition of Work
from the Center for Contemporary Printmaking
Fall 2023 – Winter
2024
In its most basic
form, printmaking is the process by which information on one surface is
physically transferred to another surface, typically flat, and often paper. Its
origins have roots in prehistoric cave paintings, for which the artist placed
their hand against a cave wall to use as a stencil while blowing ground pigment
across it through a hollow reed or bone, generating the earliest-known repeated
image. By 500 BC, Sumerians were carving unique images into cylinder seals
which were rolled onto wet clay, using them to indicate ownership of goods for
trade.
The development of
paper in China frequently parallels advances in printmaking as it provided less
costly materials for distribution. The structure of paper is important in that
it must withstand the printing process while being able to hold the ink. Around
105 CE, a court official named Ts’ai Lun combined
mulberry plant fibers with other fibrous materials to create the earliest
version of paper, which became widely used because it made books more affordable.
Around 200 CE, scholarly texts were reproduced from carved surfaces through a
rubbing transfer process using paper and silk.
During the Song
dynasty (960-1279 CE), the demand for larger quantities of religious texts and
governmental documents increased. Moveable type was initially created by Bi
Sheng out of clay in 1041, with more durable wooden moveable type and metal
type developed by 1297. Screen printing was also invented in China at this time
as a way of transferring images onto fabric. The ongoing evolution of
printmaking accompanied the spread of knowledge as the process and materials
made their way across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, transforming the
world.
Printmaking made its
way to Europe in the mid-13th century, likely introduced by the Mongol armies
moving west along the Silk Road who brought it with them from the Uighurs. By
the 1380s, printed goods such as playing cards, religious images, block books,
and textiles appeared in Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and France. By 1450, Johannes
Gutenberg had completed inventing the printing press in Strasbourg, introducing
movable metal type in Europe and embarking on his
printing of what has come to be known as the Gutenberg Bible, completed
by 1454-1455.
The first major European
artist-master printer was a German engraver known only as the Master of the
Playing Cards, working between 1430 and 1450. Unlike many early engravers
typically trained as goldsmiths or armorers, they used printmaking to create
art, paving the way for others. Albrecht Dürer
(b.1471), the most well-known artist of the German Renaissance, was a painter
and printmaker who worked in the processes of etching and woodcut prints and
greatly influenced the course of representational art across Europe.
Lithography was accidentally
invented in Germany in 1798 by playwright Alois Senefelder,
when he realized that he could reproduce his scripts by writing them on a piece
of Bavarian limestone using a greasy crayon and then rolling over the surface
with ink. This process was used by artists to produce fine art prints, such as
those by Currier and Ives, but took another 68 years for it to become a
commercially popular process.
Technological
innovations in the 20th century saw an explosion of mass production
in printing, from offset and color printing to different typesetting methods
and computer composition. Mainstream print media, underground zines, political
pamphlets, and fine art printing are still important cultural forces today.
While technical innovations continue to evolve, artists have often become the
ones who maintain continuity with historic processes, and even with the more
recent commercial processes that quickly become technologically obsolete,
tethering them to the contemporary moment via their ongoing art making
practices.
Curated by Kimberly Henrickson and Chris Shore, Center for Contemporary Printmaking.
Founded in 1995, the Center for Contemporary Printmaking, located
in an historic landmark 19th- century stone carriage house in the Mathews
Park cultural complex in Norwalk, is the only non-profit fine art printmaking
facility of its kind open to the public between New York and Boston.
CCP offers workshops in all aspects of printmaking, hosts museum-quality
exhibitions, and offers state-of-the-art facilities where artists can engage
professional printers and realize editions. All exhibitions at CCP are free and
open to the public.
Center for Contemporary Printmaking is a 501(c) (3) organization
established to support and encourage serious emerging and professional artists
in the creation of original prints and to educate the community to a better
understanding and appreciation of prints and the process of printmaking. It
offers both an historic and contemporary view of printmaking, encouraging
traditional techniques as well as modern technologies.
For information about CCP and inquiries about
the work on view in this exhibition, please email [email protected] or call (203) 899-7999.
PRINTMAKING PROCESS TERMS
INTAGLIO: Any of the
techniques in which an image or tonal area is printed from lines or textures, scratched or etched into a metal plate. The plate is covered
with ink, then wiped clean, leaving ink in the incised lines or textures of the
image. This plate is then printed in a press on moistened paper. The paper is
forced down into the area of the plate holding ink, and the image is transferred
to the paper.
Aquatint: An etching
technique that creates areas of tone through the use of
powdered resin that is sprinkled on the etching plate prior to being bitten by
the etching acid. The result is a finely textured tonal area whose darkness is
determined by how long the plate is bitten by the acid.
Drypoint: Similar
to
etching, but the lines are simply scratched into the plate manually, without
the use of acid. The hallmark of a drypoint is a soft
and often rather thick or bushy line, somewhat like that of an ink pen on moist
paper.
Etching: The plate is first
covered with an acid-resistant ground through which the artist scratches a
design with a stylus or needle, revealing the bare metal below. This plate is
then immersed in an acid bath that cuts the incised lines into the plate.
Etched lines often betray the subtle motions of the artist's fingertips.
Mezzotint: Invented around
1650, allows the printing of rich tonal areas of black and gray. The process
begins by texturing a metal plate to hold a great deal of ink and print a solid
black field. This is done with a tool called a "rocker", a large,
curved blade with very fine teeth along its edge that punches fine dots into
the metal plate to receive the ink. The next step is to scrape away the
stippled texture where lighter passages are needed. Mezzotint differs
conceptually from other intaglio methods because the artist works from black to
white rather than white to black, lending itself to scenes with many dark
passages.
Photogravure: The photographic
negative (which may be of an artist's drawing) is projected onto a sensitized
gelatin emulsion or carbon tissue that is transferred to a copper plate. After
washing, the plate areas that correspond to the image on the negative are
dissolved, and the plate can be bitten by acid as in routine etching. In hand
photogravure, most used in printmaking, the copper plate is first prepared for
aquatint etching. The result can closely resemble a traditional linear etching
or soft ground etching.
MONOTYPE: As indicated by
the name, it is a one-of-a-kind print. Pigments are applied to a smooth,
non-absorbent surface over which paper is placed and run through a press to
transfer the pigment, allowing only one pull of the image.
Monoprint: A print that
incorporates a repeated element across impressions but otherwise has unique
coloring or composition, resulting in a unique print.
PHOTO PROCESSES
Photomechanical
reproduction: A variety of processes involving the transfer of a
photographic image to a printing matrix, such as an etching plate, relief
block, or a lithographic stone. The term is used here whenever it is not
certain exactly which photomechanical process is involved.
PLANOGRAPHIC
PRINTING
Lithography: A printing
technique in which the image is drawn on a very flat slab of limestone (or a
specially treated metal plate). This stone is treated chemically so that ink,
when rolled onto the stone, adheres only where the drawing was done. This inked
image can then be transferred to a piece of paper with the help of a
high-pressure press.
RELIEF PRINTING: Any print in which
the image is printed from the raised portions of a carved, etched, or cast
block. A simple example would be a rubber stamp. The term "relief
print" is used when it is not clear which kind of relief printing has been
used.
Woodcut: The most common
relief print, usually carved in the plank grain of a piece of wood. After the
relief image has been carved with knives or gouges, it is inked with a dauber
or roller. It can then be printed by hand (in which case a sheet of paper is
laid down on the inked plank and rubbed from the back with a smooth surface
such as the palm of the hand or a wooden spoon) or with the help of a
mechanical press.
Linoleum Cut /
Linocut: A relief print carved into linoleum rather than wood.
STENCIL PRINTING
Screen Printing: The stencil is
adhered to a fine screen for support, and ink can be squeegeed
through the screen onto paper. Can have a hard-edged quality caused by the
crisp edges of the stencil. Also referred to as "silk screen" and
"serigraphy”.
Pochoir: A stencil print
that does not involve a screen. Usually, pigment is brushed across the openings
of the template with brush marks often discernable.
Timeline
Prehistory: In cave paintings, the artist placed their hand
against a wall to use as a stencil while blowing ground pigment across it
through a hollow reed or bone, generating the earliest-known repeated image.
Circa 500 BC: Sumerians were carving unique images into cylinder
seals which were rolled onto wet clay, using them to indicate ownership of
goods for trade.
Circa 100 CE: Court official Ts’ai
Lun combined mulberry plant fibers with other fibrous materials to create the
earliest version of paper, which became widely used because it made books more
affordable.
Circa 200 CE: Scholarly texts were reproduced from carved
surfaces through a rubbing transfer process using paper and silk.
960-1279 CE: Moveable type was initially created by Bi Sheng
out of clay in 1041, with more durable wooden moveable type and metal type
developed by 1297. Screen printing was also invented in China at this time as a
way of transferring images onto fabric. Printmaking spreads knowledge across
Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Mid-13th century: Printing arrives in Europe, likely by the
Mongol armies moving west along the Silk Road who brought it with them from the
Uighurs.
1430-1450: First major European artist-master printer,
German engraver known only as the Master of the Playing Cards.
Circa 1450: Johannes Gutenberg has introduced movable metal
type in Europe and embarked on his printing of what has come to be known as the
Gutenberg Bible, completed by 1454-1455.
1471: Albrecht Dürer, the most well-known artist of the German Renaissance,
is born. A painter and printmaker who
worked in the processes of etching and woodcut prints, his prints greatly
influenced the course of representational art across Europe.
1798: Lithography accidentally invented in Germany by playwright Alois Senefelder, when he realized that he could reproduce his
scripts by writing them on a piece of Bavarian limestone using a greasy crayon
and then rolling over the surface with ink. (This process was used by artists
to produce fine art prints, such as those by Currier and Ives, but took another
68 years for it to become a commercially popular process.)
20th century: Technological innovations saw an explosion of
mass production in printing, from offset and color printing to different
typesetting methods and computer composition. Mainstream print media,
underground zines, political pamphlets, and fine art printing are still
important cultural forces today.