Printmaking
Printmaking creates images by transferring ink from a prepared matrix to paper, allowing multiple original impressions from a single worked surface.
Definition
The art of making images that can be printed in multiple impressions from a worked matrix, classified by how the printing surface holds and releases ink: in relief, in incised lines (intaglio), on a flat plane (planographic), or through a stencil.
Scope
This area covers the major printmaking families — relief (woodcut, wood engraving, linocut), intaglio (engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint), planographic lithography, and stencil-based screen printing — together with the concepts of matrix, edition, state, and impression and the social role of the reproducible image.
Sub-topics
Core questions
- How do relief, intaglio, planographic, and stencil methods differ in holding and transferring ink?
- What do matrix, state, impression, and edition mean in printmaking?
- How did the multiplied image transform the spread of visual information?
- How is an original print distinguished from a photomechanical reproduction?
Key concepts
- Matrix
- Relief, intaglio, planographic, stencil
- State and impression
- Edition and proof
- Registration
- Original print
Key theories
- Classification by ink-bearing surface
- The framework that organizes printmaking into relief, intaglio, planographic, and stencil processes according to how the matrix holds ink, which also governs the visual character of each technique.
- Exactly repeatable pictorial statement
- William Ivins's argument that the historical importance of prints lies in their capacity to provide exactly repeatable pictorial statements, enabling the reliable transmission of visual information.
History
Printmaking developed in Europe from the fifteenth century, with the woodcut and then engraving spreading printed images alongside the printing press; Albrecht Durer raised both to high art. Etching flourished with Rembrandt, lithography emerged around 1800, and screen printing was adopted by artists in the twentieth century. Throughout, prints served simultaneously as fine art and as a primary medium of mass visual communication.
Debates
- What counts as an original print
- Debate over the criteria distinguishing an original print — made from a matrix worked by or for the artist — from a mere photomechanical reproduction, which bears on authenticity, value, and the meaning of the limited edition.
Key figures
- Albrecht Durer
- Rembrandt van Rijn
- Arthur M. Hind
- William M. Ivins
Related topics
Seminal works
- griffiths1996
- hind1963
- ivins1953
Frequently asked questions
- What is a matrix in printmaking?
- The matrix is the worked surface — such as a woodblock, metal plate, lithographic stone, or screen — that carries the image and from which impressions are printed onto paper.
- What makes a print an original rather than a reproduction?
- An original print is made from a matrix conceived and worked as a printmaking surface by or under the direction of the artist, whereas a reproduction is a photomechanical copy of an image created in another medium.