The multi-facets of printmaking
The expression of people is the representation of emotions and the expression in art is the representation of the combination of what the nature embraces. As simple as it may be said, the way of conveying those expressions is not that always easily to be interpreted or readily to be straightforwardly perceived. Like any kinds of communication, art can be conveyed through different use of techniques. It depends much on the choices and the affinity that each artist has for each technique. An artist could prefer to express his visual artworks through painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, crafts, photography, videos or printmaking.
Printmaking is one of the very fascinating communicative art techniques, but as well one that could leave us in a total state of perplexity as it comprises so many different methods and processes. Already since in our primitive time to today, printmaking has been part of our medium of communication that certainly has gone through experimentation, transformation, development and change in its utilities. Recognizable from those prehistoric paintings found in the cave to the modern large-scale commercial print board, what of an evolution!
Behind the sense of the word printmaking nowadays, it can be categorized according to its two distinguishable objectives. The first one is better represented by the word “printmaking” which define the artistic aims of expressing emotion, beauty, ugliness, composition or personal values, whereas the other one, which is better represented by the word “print”, defines all general procedure that encompassed commercial and informative objects like in advertising, books, papers, cards etc. However, it is the artistic printmaking category that we would like to take into account here.
Printmaking has the same capacity of a singular painting to express its beauty, or in other word, all its totality of intended self-expression. It does evolved from painting to an alternative that have the better feasibility in diffusing culture in a more democratic way. This is because an image through printmaking technique can be reproduced in multitude. True that its origin could be said to be started from the simplest and logical form from what the nature offers and from what we have observed like the walking foot prints on the wet sand at the beach or the unintentionally use of a hand as a stencil to produce the printing effect. Nonetheless, a historically occurrence that formally marked printmaking into a revolution that changes the world is the invention of a printing press by the German Johannesburg Gutenberg, circa 1398, in the 15th century. Printmaking is an innovation that permit the accessibility of art to a wider public from diverse economical, social as well as cultural status.
What are those diverse methods or processes of printmaking?
This is quite a complicate matter to understand, especially if we are not an artist or directly in touch with the processes of making. To make it easier to understand 4 designations of printmaking, divided in accordance to the use of different matrix’s characteristics, are explain here below, within each its own subdivisions are as well clarified.
1.) Relief printing is a designation that describes the printing processes that the images are obtained from the raise surface of the matrix. The area where the artist meant not to print is cut or carve away. The ink will only adheres to those raise surfaces when pressing on the paper.
Woodcut or xylograph is the method, which the intended design is create by cutting into the wood surface. It is one of the oldest form of printmaking. Normally it is represented with the strong color contrast between black and white creating an intense expression.
Linocut is a parallel methods to woodcut, using linoleum, only that it is more used in the modern day as the material is softer so it allows the artist to create cleaner line and easier to create elaborated finer details.
Other objects like hard paper, metal or even fruits and vegetables can also be used as the basic material for the same processes.
2.) Intaglio printing is a designation that describes the printing processes that the images, on the contrary to relief printing, are obtained from the line that are incised on the plate by different methods from the use of sharp-pointed instruments to the use of acid. The matrix, usually a plate, used could be made from various choices of materials like copper, zinc or other kinds of metal. When the ink is applied to the plate, the ink will settled down in those deep-set areas. Then after the plate is wiped clean, and in contact with a humid paper as well as being under pressure through a roller press, it will transfer the ink from that deep-set area onto the paper.
Etching is a process where the artist incises or practically draws his design with a sharp needle on a metal plate that has been covered with a wax-coated or an acid-resisitant ground before. When the entire plate is soaked into the acid, the exposed lined will be etched by the acid and leaves the area where it is coated intact. In order to create an effect of darker lines, it depends much on length of time that the plate is left bathing in the acid.
Drypoint is the simplest intaglio method, which a sharp-pointed tool is used to draw directly on the plate. The depth of the line depends on the artist’s command and experience. However, this simple incision produces a ridgeline along the edge of the incisions, which is called the burr. It is exactly these burrs that catches the ink and soften the line and create a velvety appearance when the work is printed, in contrasted to the clean edged line of etching.
Aquatint is a process that the finished prints look similar to the watercolor effects as proclaims in its name. It is also a parallel methods to etching but was invented in order to create more choices of tonality to the work. The metal plate is firstly cover with a powdered ground and then heated so that the powdered melted onto the surfaced. This ground is acid-resistant but because of its powder’s structure, it covers incompletely, which when left in the acid bath, it resulted in grainy surface texture. However, the longer the plate is left in the acid, the darker and denser the texture will become. This logic of timing in combination with the separate times that the plate is left bathing result in different range of tone of the artworks. To prevent chosen area of being corroded, it is to paint on an acid-resistant coat. Normally this process is much use in combination with the etching method.
3.) Lithograph or planographic printing is a method that is based on the antipathy of water and grease. It describes the printing process that the images are obtained from what is drawn upon on the superficies. The word lithography orginated from the combine Greek words; “lithos” means stone and “graphein” means to write. The traditional matrix here is, therefore, a flat stone, usually a limestone, where the image is drawn upon with greasy pencils or crayons. After the stone is moisten with water and an ink roller, the greasy image hold the oily ink while repelling the water. With the similar pressing process of the intaglio printing method, the ink on the greasy areas are transferred to the paper with a light pressure.
Offset Lithography evolves from lithographic printing method. It is one of the major industrial printing methods. Commonly used in commercial and informative printings as the moistening, the inking and pressing of the printing process can be operated by number of rollers with swiftness.
4.) Stencil printing depicts the process, which the printing image is obtained through an opening in the material. This method only came into usage in the beginning of the 20th century but has already become one of the most used industrial printmaking methods today on paper as well as on textiles.
Serigraph, Screenprint and Silkscreen are the same printing method, which are called in different names and sometimes used selectively for a distinct art’s period or style. The methods involve the application of an ink-blocking stencil to the screen, where then the ink will be outspreaded across it in order to passes through on the paper, except the area made impermeable with chosen stencils. Traditionally the screen is made out of silk as possibly made from synthetic, metallic or other fine material as well. One color is printed at a time, so several screens can be used to produce one multicolored image.
Commonly known, all terms can be used for general works of this technique but “screenprint” is a term that is better suited for the Pop art of the 20th century.
It is important to note here that the printmaking artworks certainly are on the evolving road like any other subjects under the transformation of the continuous evolving world structure. Art might be considered as a heritage for classless society but under the present conditions of a capitalistic society, it is quite natural that art depends much on the market and social influences. Therefore, the fundamental logic of reproduction or the use of different methods of printmaking also follow, nearly as mechanically, the tides of the market and social demand and tendencies (much of this understanding can be found in Walter Benjamin’s, an important German art critics and philosopher- 1892, contemplative written works).
Cover image:
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Plate 13 from the “Disparate” series; Modo de volar(Way to fly), Etching And Aquatint, 1816–1823
