Overview

Before the internet, before photography, there was the Print. If you wanted to see a picture of a rhino in 1515, you didn’t Google it. You bought a woodcut by Albrecht Dürer. Printmaking was the first mass media. It allowed art and information to travel cheaply and quickly. But it is also a beautiful art form in its own right, valued for its unique textures and lines.

Core Idea

The core idea is The Matrix. No, not the movie. The matrix is the surface (wood, metal, stone) on which the image is created. You ink the matrix, press paper onto it, and peel it off. You can do this hundreds of times. This challenges the idea of the “unique masterpiece.” A print is an “original multiple.”

Formal Definition

The artistic process of transferring an image from a matrix onto another surface, usually paper or fabric. The main types are Relief (woodcut), Intaglio (etching/engraving), Planographic (lithography), and Stencil (screenprinting).

Intuition

  • Relief (Potato Stamp): You cut away the parts you don’t want. The raised part gets the ink. (Woodcut).
  • Intaglio (Scratch): You scratch a line into metal. The ink goes into the scratch. You wipe the surface clean. The paper sucks the ink out of the groove. (Etching).
  • Stencil (T-Shirt): You block out areas of a screen. You push ink through the open holes. (Screenprinting).

Examples

  • Albrecht Dürer: The master of the woodcut and engraving. His prints (like Melencolia I) were so detailed they looked like drawings, but could be sold to thousands of people. He was the first international art star.
  • Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa: A Japanese woodblock print (Ukiyo-e). It required separate blocks for each color (blue, white, black), perfectly registered.
  • Andy Warhol: Used silkscreen (a commercial industrial process) to make fine art. He liked the “mistakes” and misalignments that happened in the process.

Common Misconceptions

  • It’s just a copy: A poster of the Mona Lisa is a reproduction. A Dürer print is an original work of art, because the artist worked directly on the plate.
  • It’s obsolete: Digital printing exists, but artists still love traditional printmaking for the “accident” and the physical pressure—the way the ink sits in the paper, not just on it.
  • Edition: The limited number of prints made from one plate (e.g., “5/100”). The lower the number, the more valuable (usually).
  • Artist’s Proof (AP): Test prints made by the artist to check the quality.
  • Monotype: A print where you paint on a smooth surface and press it. You only get one print. It’s a hybrid of painting and printing.

Applications

  • Political Protest: Because prints are cheap and easy to distribute (flyers, posters), they have always been the medium of revolution (from the Reformation to the 1968 student protests).
  • Books: The history of printmaking is the history of the book.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Technical Barrier: It requires heavy equipment (presses, acids) and chemicals. It’s hard to do at home.
  • The “Originality” Fetish: The art market still values unique paintings more than prints, simply because they are rarer.

Further Reading

  • Griffiths, Antony. Prints and Printmaking. 1996.
  • Ivins, William. Prints and Visual Communication. 1953. (How prints changed science by allowing identical diagrams to be shared).
  • Saff, Donald. Printmaking: History and Process. 1978.