Peter Collins Print Maker

A History of Printmaking

Relating to the techniques of Woodcut, Engraving and Etching.

Woodcut blocks for printing Buddhist texts were the pioneers of printmaking, invented in China around the 6th century. The simple use of woodcut in a similar way was taken up in Europe in the 15th century, for religious text reproduction (see illustration), beginning the printing revolution which was allied to the invention of movable type printing, first developed in Germany with the Gutenberg Press (Gutenberg Bible 1450). Japanese woodcuts have made the images possible through multiple block printing recognisable worldwide.

The art of metal Engraving had been highly developed at this time for armour and goldsmithing, but the ability to engrave on copper and take a print had to wait till a press with sufficient power had been facilitated by advances in iron working- the pressure required to take a print from the incised lines on a plate being much greater than a woodblock press. Albrecht Durer (16th century) is perhaps the most celebrated engraver.

Etching developed from hand engraving as a way of achieving the image by the use of acid biting into lines drawn into a wax ground- by the 17th century this had reached a high point of expression with Rembrandt`s prints.

The art of etching developed into many fascinating branches; soft ground, to imitate pencil drawing, aquatint, to

produce tonal effects like watercolour; sugar lift etching, to enable direct brush and pen drawing on the plate.

Picasso exploited all of these more experimental etching techniques.

Wood Engraving was first exploited by Thomas Bewick in the 18th century, using the end grain of box wood to obtain fine detailed images highly suited to book illustration. Wood engraving was used for books and all forms of publishing for the 19th and into the 20th century, when it was replaced by photomechanical line blocks.

Artists have used Printmaking techniques for their own purposes for centuries, without the constraints of reproducing others` work for publication, using the infinite variety of effects possible which could not be found through painting and drawing. The ability to print from a hand made plate or block shows no sign of losing its attraction for artists even in an age of increasingly sophisticated digital printing.


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