This document provides an overview of various printmaking techniques. It begins by defining what a print is and discussing early uses of printing. It then characterizes and provides examples of relief processes like woodcut and linocut. It also characterizes and provides examples of intaglio processes like engraving, etching, and drypoint. The document discusses the creative process of printmaking and provides a contemporary example of a four-color intaglio print. It aims to differentiate various printmaking techniques and provide historical and artistic context.

1. WORLD OF ARTWORLD OF ART
CHAPTER
EIGHTH EDITION
World of Art, Eighth Edition
Henry M. Sayre
Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
All rights reserved.
Printmaking
10

2. Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives
1 of 21 of 2
1. Define what a print is and discuss its
earliest uses.
2. Characterize relief processes in
printmaking.
3. Characterize intaglio processes in
printmaking.
4. Describe the lithographic process and
its invention.

3. Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives
2 of 22 of 2
5. Describe the silkscreen process.
6. Differentiate monotypes from other
kinds of print.

4. IntroductionIntroduction
• A print is an image printed from an
engraved plate, wooden block, or
similar surface.
• After the death of her cat, Kiki Smith
developed a print in various states, or
stages, until it was finished.
• Prints allow artists to investigate the
meaning of mechanically reproduced
imagery.

5. Kiki Smith, Ginzer and Bird Skeleton.
paper; Ginzer: paper size 22-1⁄12 × 31", image size 18 × 24"; Bird Skeleton: paper size
12 × 12", image size 6 × 6". Edition of 24.
Courtesy of the artist and Harlan & Weaver, New York. [Fig. 10-1a]

6. Kiki Smith, Bird Skeleton.
size 12 × 12", image size 6 × 6". Edition of 24.
Courtesy of the artist and Harlan & Weaver, New York. [Fig. 10-1b]

7. The Print and its Earliest UsesThe Print and its Earliest Uses
1 of 41 of 4
• In printmaking, the process creates an
impression of an image that has been
transferred through pressure onto
paper from a matrix, or the surface
onto which the design has been
created.
• Multiple impressions from the same
matrix are called an edition.

8. The Print and its Earliest UsesThe Print and its Earliest Uses
2 of 42 of 4
• Artists often reserve a small number of
additional proofs or trial impressions
for personal use.
• The world's earliest known printed
book, the Diamond Sutra, was found in
Dunhuang, China.
 Images were originally intended to be
mass produced and distributed despite
only one surviving work.

9. Frontispiece, Diamond Sutra, from Cave 17, Dunhuang.
Printed in the ninth year of the Xiantong Era of the Tang dynasty, 868 CE. Ink on paper,
woodblock handscroll. British Library.
© British Library Board, Or. 8210/P.2, frontispiece and text. [Fig. 10-2]

10. The Print and its Earliest UsesThe Print and its Earliest Uses
3 of 43 of 4
• Before paper was used widespread,
pictorial designs were still printed onto
fabric.
• When the Gutenberg press was
invented between 1435 and 1455,
printmaking soon followed.
 The Forty-Two Line Bible featured
colorful painted designs in the
marginalia and capitals.

11. Johannes Gutenberg, Page from the Forty-Two-Line Bible, Mainz.
1455–56. Page 162 recto with initials "M" and "E" and depiction of Alexander the Great;
text printed with movable letters and hand-painted initials and marginalia.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
Photo: Ruth Schacht. © 2015. Photo Scala, Florence/bpk, Bildagentur fuer Kunst, Kultur
und Geschichte, Berlin. [Fig. 10-3]

12. The Print and its Earliest UsesThe Print and its Earliest Uses
4 of 44 of 4
• The Nuremberg Chronicle was
published by Anton Koberger and
contains more than 1,800 pictures.
 It was printed in a black-and-white and
color edition.
 Color would have been applied by hand
and was therefore more expensive.

13. Hartmann Schedel, The Nuremberg Chronicle: View of Venice.
12 July 1493. Woodcut, illustration size approx. 10 × 20". Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York.
Rogers Fund, 1921.36.145. Image © Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala,
Florence. [Fig. 10-4]

14. Relief ProcessesRelief Processes
• Relief refers to a process in which the
image to be printed is raised off the
background in reverse.

15. WoodcutWoodcut
1 of 51 of 5
• A design is drawn on the surface of the
woodblock and parts that are to be
printed in white are cut away with a
knife or chisel.
• Thick, sticky ink that will not flow into
the hollows is then applied to the
block's surface.
• Artists can achieve dramatic contrast
between light and dark.

16. Relief-printing technique.
[Fig. 10-5]

17. WoodcutWoodcut
2 of 52 of 5
• Erich Heckel, a German Expressionist,
used the expressive potential of
woodcut in his Fränzi Reclining.
• Color block printing technology
developed by Chinese artists in the
mid-eighteenth century was becoming
popularized in Japan.
 They were known as nishiki-e images
due to their resemblance to brocade.

18. Erich Heckel, Fränzi Reclining.
1910. Woodcut, printed in color, block 8-15⁄16 × 16-9⁄16", sheet 13-15⁄16 × 21-7/8".
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Gerson, 40.1958. Image © 2015 Metropolitan Museum of
Art/Art Resource/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG
Bild-Kunst, Bonn. [Fig. 10-6]

19. WoodcutWoodcut
3 of 53 of 5
• Suzuki Harunobu's designs were early
examples of what would become known
as ukiyo-e, "pictures of the transient
world of everyday life."
 They portrayed women of great beauty,
such as Two Courtesans.
• Graphic contrast between the inside and
outside of the harimise reflects the
principlesof yin and yang.

20. Suzuki Harunobu, Two Courtesans, Inside and Outside the Display Window.
About 1768–69. Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper, 26-3/8 × 5-1⁄16".
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Denman Waldo Ross Collection, 1906.1248. Photograph © 2015 Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston. [Fig. 10-7]

21. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
1 of 21 of 2
• Making an Ukiyo-e Print: Kitagawa
Utamaro's Studio
 The Fickle Type is a depiction of typical
subject matter in ukiyo-e prints.
 Traditionally, printing required the equal
and combined efforts of publisher,
designer, carver, and printer.
 This depiction of Utamaro's studio is a
mitate, or fanciful picture.

22. Kitagawa Utamaro, The Fickle Type, from the series Ten Physiognomies of Women.
ca. 1793. Woodcut, 14 × 9-7/8".
Courtesy of Library of Congress. [Fig. 10-8]

23. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
2 of 22 of 2
• Making an Ukiyo-e Print: Kitagawa
Utamaro's Studio
 Each worker in the triptych is a pretty
girl.
• On the left, workers size the paper.
• In the middle section, the block is
prepared.
• On the right, Utamaro depicts himself in
women's clothing and holding a finished
print.

24. Kitagawa Utamaro, Utamaro's Studio, Eshi . . . dosa-hiki (the three primary steps in
producing a print from drawing to glazing), from the series Edo meibutsu nishiki-e
kosaku.
ca. 1803. Oban triptych, ink and color on paper, 24-3/4 × 9-5/8". Published by Tsuruya
Kiemon. The Art Institute of Chicago.
Clarence Buckingham Collection, 1939.2141. Photo © 1999, Art Institute of Chicago. All
rights reserved. [Fig. 10-9]

25. WoodcutWoodcut
4 of 54 of 5
• European artists revived the art of
woodcut due to the introduction of
Japanese prints in the nineteenth
century.
• Van Gogh was an enthusiastic collector
of prints and would occasionally copy
elements of them directly.
 Japonaiserie: The Courtesan (after Kesai
Eisen) is an example.

26. Vincent van Gogh, Japonaiserie: The Courtesan (after Kesai Eisen).
1887. Oil on canvas, 41-3/8 × 24". Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Courtesy of Vincent van Gogh Foundation. [Fig. 10-10]

27. "Le Japon," cover of Paris Illustré.
May 1886. Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Courtesy of Vincent van Gogh Foundation. [Fig. 10-11]

28. WoodcutWoodcut
5 of 55 of 5
• Mary Cassatt was most impressed with
the intimate depiction of the world of
women found in Japanese woodcut.
 She imitated works like Shaving a Boy's
Head in her own prints.
 Bath explores contrasts between skin
and printed textiles as well as a flat
composition void of tonal variations
often found in Western art.

29. Kitagawa Utamaro, Shaving a Boy's Head.
ca. 1795. Color woodblock print, 15-1/8 × 10-1/4". The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Bequest of Richard P. Gale, 74.1.153. Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 10-12]

30. Mary Cassatt, The Bath.
1890–91. Drypoint and aquatint on laid paper, plate 12-5/8 × 9-3/4",
sheet 17-3⁄16 × 12". National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Rosenwald Collection. Photo © Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington,
D.C. Photo: Dean Beasom. [Fig. 10-13]

31. Wood EngravingWood Engraving
1 of 21 of 2
• Wood engraving involves fine, narrow
grooves cut into a block that leave a
"white line" when printed.
 The grainy side of the wood is used
instead of the smooth side, as end grain
can be cut in any direction without
splintering.

32. Wood EngravingWood Engraving
2 of 22 of 2
• The engraving depicting Exploration of
the Colorado River of the West was
copied by a wood engraver from an
original sketch.
 It presents some of the first views of the
great American Western canyonlands.

33. Noon-Day Rest in Marble Canyon, after an original sketch by Thomas Moran, from J. W.
Powell, Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and its Tributaries.
1875. Wood engraving, 6-1/2 × 4-3/8". The New York Public Library, New York.
[Fig. 10-14]

34. LinocutLinocut
1 of 21 of 2
• In linocut, the block is made of
linoleum instead of wood.
 Linoleum is easier to cut but wears
down more quickly under pressure.
• It can be colored using a series of
different blocks, one for each color,
aligned via the process of
registration.

35. LinocutLinocut
2 of 22 of 2
• Elizabeth Catlett's Sharecropper is
comprised of three separate linoleum
blocks: black, dark green, and burnt
sienna.
 Rather than portraying the reality of
sharecroppers in conditions of slavery,
Catlett shows a determined, strong
figure representative of a commitment
to social change.

36. Elizabeth Catlett, Sharecropper.
1952, printed 1970. Color linocut on cream Japanese paper, image 17-3/4 × 17". The Art
Institute of Chicago.
Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert S. Hartman, 1992.182. © Catlett Mora Family
Trust/Licensed by VAGA, New York. [Fig. 10-15]

37. Intaglio ProcessesIntaglio Processes
• In intaglio, areas to be printed are
below the surface of the plate and are
filled with ink.
 The surface of the plate is wiped clean
and a powerful roller picks up the ink in
the depressed grooves.
• Modeling and shading are achieved by
hatching, cross-hatching, and
stippling.

38. Intaglio printmaking technique, general view. [Fig. 10-16]

39. Intaglio printmaking techniques, side views. [Fig. 10-17]

40. EngravingEngraving
• Engraving is accomplished by pushing
a V-shaped, metal burin across a
metal plate.
• Line engravings were often used to
illustrate books prior to photography.
 The reproduction of Turner's Snow
Storm: Steamboat off a Harbor's Mouth
successfully captures the play of light
and dark in the original.

41. After J. M. W. Turner, Snow Storm: Steamboat off a Harbor's Mouth (1842), engraved by
R. Brandard.
Published 1859–61. Engraving on steel. Tate Gallery, London.
© Tate, London 2015. [Fig. 10-18]

42. EtchingEtching
1 of 31 of 3
• Etching is capable of capturing a
sketchlike quality of line.
• In the process, a metal plate is first
coated with an acid-resistant ground.
 The ground can be hard for detailing or
soft for easy exposure.
• Afterward, the plate is set in an acid
bath, where exposed areas are etched
by acid.

43. EtchingEtching
2 of 32 of 3
• Individual lines can be controlled via
stopping out a section by applying a
varnish or another coat of ground.
• When the plate is ready for printing, a
solvent removes the ground and the
print is made using the intaglio
method.

44. EtchingEtching
3 of 33 of 3
• Rembrandt's The Angel Appearing to
the Shepherds explores the capabilities
and limits of etching.
 The artist built up the black background
with careful, intricate cross-hatching so
that only areas bathed in the angel's
light remain white.
 More traditional drawing methods were
used to model the figures.

45. Rembrandt van Rijn, The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds.
1634. Etching, 10-1/4 × 8-1/2". Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Mr and Mrs De Bruijn-van der Leeuw Bequest, Muri, Switzerland. [Fig. 10-19]

46. DrypointDrypoint
• Drypoint line is scratched across a
copper plate with a metal point that is
pulled across a surface, leaving burrs
along the sides of a line.
 Burrs wear off quickly and rarely allow
for editions of more than 25.
• Mary Cassatt's The Map (The Lesson)
exhibits the softness of line created
through this method.

47. Mary Cassatt, The Map (The Lesson).
1890. Drypoint, 6-3⁄16 × 9-3⁄16". The Art Institute of Chicago.
Joseph Brooks Fair Collection, 1933.537. Photo © 1999 Art Institute of Chicago. All
rights reserved. [Fig. 10-20]

48. The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
• Four-Color Intaglio: Yuji Hiratsuka's
Miracle Grow Hypnotist
 Whereas Utamaro used separate blocks
for each color, Hiratsuka used an
etching process allowing for sections not
requiring a new color to be blocked out.
 The work explores an enigmatic figure
who invokes creationary forces, claiming
to make a cactus grow but actually
using Miracle-Gro to do so.

49. Yuji Hiratsuka, Miracle Grow Hypnotist.
2005. Four-color intaglio (etching, aquatint) and Chine-collé on Japanese Kozo
(mulberry) paper, 18 × 13". Edition of 26.
[Fig. 10-21]

50. Yuji Hiratsuka, Miracle Grow Hypnotist.
2005. Four-color intaglio (etching, aquatint) and Chine-collé on Japanese Kozo
(mulberry) paper, 18 × 13". Edition of 26.
[Fig. 10-22]

51. Yuji Hiratsuka, Miracle Grow Hypnotist.
2005. Four-color intaglio (etching, aquatint) and Chine-collé on Japanese Kozo
(mulberry) paper, 18 × 13". Edition of 26.
[Fig. 10-23]

52. Mezzotint and AquatintMezzotint and Aquatint
1 of 21 of 2
• Mezzotint is a negative process in
which a plate is ground with a rocker,
then lightened by scraping away the
burr according to the desired image.
• J.M.W. Turner used mezzotint
masterfully to produce rich, dark tones.
 Rather than lines of ink, washes give the
impression of the scene from Ship in a
Storm.

53. J. M. W. Turner, Ship in a Storm, from the Little Liber, engraved by the artist.
ca. 1826. Mezzotint, 7-1/2 × 9-7/8". Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, UK.
[Fig. 10-24]

54. Mezzotint and AquatintMezzotint and Aquatint
2 of 22 of 2
• Aquatint involves coating a surface
with a porous ground through which
acid can penetrate.
 Acid baths create a sandpaperlike
texture, and line is added later through
etching or drypoint.
• Jane Dickson's Stairwell is pure
aquatint in three colors.
 It represents psychological torment.

55. Jane Dickson, Stairwell.
1984. Aquatint on Rives BFK paper, 35-3/4 × 22-3/4". Mount Holyoke College Art
Museum, South Hadley, Massachusetts.
Henry Rox Memorial Fund for the Acquisition of Works by Contemporary Women Artists.
[Fig. 10-25]

56. LithographyLithography
1 of 31 of 3
• This process is the chief planographic
(flat) printmaking process, meaning
that no surface is raised or depressed
to hold ink.
 It relies on the fact that grease and
water don't mix.
• This method was discovered by Alois
Senefelder to commercial purpose, as
the stone was never etched.

57. LithographyLithography
2 of 32 of 3
• Honoré Daumier used lithography to
depict current events.
 Rue Transnonain directly reports the
murder of citizens of 12 rue Transnonain
in April 1834.
 Foreshortening draws the viewer into
the horrific scene.

58. Honoré Daumier, Rue Transnonain, April 15, 1834.
1834. Lithograph, 11-1/2 × 17-5/8". The Art Institute of Chicago.
Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.2957. Photo © Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art,
Washington, D.C. [Fig. 10-26]

59. LithographyLithography
3 of 33 of 3
• The Universal Limited Art Editions
(ULAE) was established in 1957, and
among the first artists to print there
was Jim Dine.
 Lithographs representing toothbrushes
recall his childhood.
 Dine draws directly onto the stone with
tusche, a greasing liquid that allows for
blotching.

60. Jim Dine, Toothbrushes #4.
1962. Lithograph, image (irregular) 13-7⁄16 × 13-7⁄16", sheet 25-1/4 × 19-15⁄16".
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Gift of the Celeste and Armand Bartos Foundation, 353.1963. © 2015. Digital image,
Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence. © 2015 Jim Dine/Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 10-27]

61. Silkscreen PrintingSilkscreen Printing
1 of 21 of 2
• Formally known as serigraphs, no
heavy machinery is needed to create
prints.
• Principles are similar to those required
for stenciling.
 In proper technique, shapes are not cut
out but glue is painted in areas where
the artist does not want ink to pass
through.

62. Silkscreen PrintingSilkscreen Printing
2 of 22 of 2
• Serigraphy is the newest form of
printmaking.
• Enter the Rice Cooker by Roger
Shimomura addresses the tension
between American and Japanese
cultures.
 It addresses racial and sexual
stereotypes, parodying the ukiyo-e
tradition.

63. Roger Shimomura, Enter the Rice Cooker.
1994. Color screenprint on Saunders 410 gram HP, image 36 × 41". Edition of 170.
Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas.
Gift of the artist, 2005.0072. [Fig. 10-28]

64. MonotypesMonotypes
1 of 21 of 2
• Monotypes use a plate and press in
the making of a unique image that can
never be reproduced exactly.
• Artists use printer's ink or paints that
are transferred to paper via pressure.
• Foreground elements must be painted
first, as the top layer of paint becomes
the bottom layer when printed.

65. MonotypesMonotypes
2 of 22 of 2
• Maurice Prendergast created many
monotypes by using a large spoon to
apply pressure.
 The Picnic reveals brushwork in its
atmospheric haze.
 Characteristic subjects were young well-
to-do women in landscape settings.

66. Maurice Prendergast, The Picnic.
1895–97. Monotype, 81-5⁄16 × 51-3⁄16". San Diego Museum of Art.
San Diego Museum of Art, USA/Museum purchase/Bridgeman Images. [Fig. 10-29]

67. The Critical ProcessThe Critical Process
Thinking about PrintmakingThinking about Printmaking
• Warhol's many portraits of Marilyn
Monroe depicted her in garish colors.
• Later works by Warhol depicting
endangered species like San Francisco
Silverspot can be compared in the
context of cultural commentary.

68. Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe.
1967. Silkscreen print, 37-1/2 × 37-1/2". Chazen Museum of Art, University of
Wisconsin–Madison.
Robert Gale Doyon Fund and Harold F. Bishop Fund Purchase, 1978-252. © 2015 Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
[Fig. 10-30]

69. Andy Warhol, San Francisco Silverspot, from the series Endangered Species.
1983. Screenprint, 38 × 38".
Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, New York. Photo: Dr. James Dee. © 2015 Andy
Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
[Fig. 10-31]

70. Thinking BackThinking Back
1 of 21 of 2
1. Define what a print is and discuss its
earliest uses.
2. Characterize relief processes in
printmaking.
3. Characterize intaglio processes in
printmaking.
4. Describe the lithographic process and
its invention.

71. Thinking BackThinking Back
2 of 22 of 2
5. Describe the silkscreen process.
6. Differentiate monotypes from other
kinds of print.