The
author, twenty-four, is a graduate in art history from the University of Washington.
He is director of the Richard White Gallery, which will present this month an
exhibition of prints and drawings by Leo Kenney, Bill Ritchie, James Johnson,
Robert Harvey, Steve Hazel and others.
One day
a woman came to the gallery eager to purchase a work of art for her home. After
looking at several paintings she became dejected because she could afford
nothing she liked. Sensing her sincere disappointment I suggested she look at
some very nice prints we had just received from Sweden that are priced very
reasonably.
"Oh,
no," she replied, thanking me. "I really want to own an original
work of art.” If this drama leaves you wondering, "How interesting but so
what?" Read on. This is for you.
The
first thing that comes to most people's minds when they hear the word .”print”
in connection with art is the variety of reproductions of famous paintings that
sell for one dollar and up at bookstores, stationery shops, department stores
and even some galleries and museums. These, however, are not original works of
art-rather copies or reproductions of original works done in another media. The
artist's hand never touches them.
There
are prints that are original works of art (note: using the term "works of
art" loosely to include many that are dubious although original.) Such
prints are one medium of the visual arts like painting, sculpture, ceramics,
etc. Printmaking is another method of image or object making. They are created
by the artist/printmaker's hand and mind.
The main
difference is that instead of one finished work, this medium produces any
number of finished works (depending on the type of print) although the number
is usually controlled and prints are issued in "limited editions." At
the bottom of a print and outside of the printed image you will find the title
of the print, the signature of the artist and two numbers such as 3/10. These
numbers tell you that this particular print is the third one made of a total of
ten. Sometimes, instead of these numbers you find the words "Artist's Proof,"
which means that this particular print is a test by the artist to check the finished
work to make sure everything is just as he intended it before going ahead with
a multiple edition.
A
variety of printing techniques are used. Intaglios, lithographs, serigraphs and
relief are the general methods. Each of these have additional variations. The
intaglio techniques involve cutting or engraving the image into a printing
plate. Aquatints, drypoints, engravings and etchings are intaglio processes.
Lithographs, as the name implies, are made from a stone plate on which the
image is drawn onto the surface with a lithographic pen or crayon.
Claes
Oldenburg now uses a new instrument designed for him that resembles a ballpoint
pen allowing him to sketch directly onto the litho stone. His portfolio of
"NOTES" are masterpieces of modern lithography.
Serigraphs
are silkscreens and even this common technique has experienced experimentation
and invention by contemporary printmakers. The photo transfer, used by Andy
Warhol to create his "Marilyn Monroe" series, is a serigraph produced
by placing a light sensitive gelatin on the silk screen and laying a photo
transparency on it. The gelatin hardens where the light hits it and remains
soft where protected by the dark. The screen is then washed to remove the gelatin
that has remained soft.
The woodcut
is a relief technique. The image is created by removing the negative areas that
are not to be printed leaving the raised portion to hold the ink. The natural wood
grain can be used to add further expression to the forms of the image. The wood
cut was very popular with German Expressionists such as Kirchner and Munch.
Both brought new life to the woodcut by utilizing the natural, dramatic
qualities of the wood grain.
All of
these techniques are undergoing improvements, experimentation and invention by
today's printmakers. One new technique is an offshoot of the lithograph called
a collograph. This method was perfected and created at the University of
Washington. Instead of a stone being used as a printing plate, a collage (hence
its name) is built up on a mat board or plastic surface to create various
raised areas and surfaces and textures that will hold and print the ink
differently. Embossing has been used in many modern prints expressly for its textural
beauty instead of a mere result of the surface of the plate.
Printing
inks are now produced and used in every color imaginable. The consistent and
intense color of the ink makes it a natural for optical art as witnessed by the
prints of Albers and Indiana.
Printmaking
had its beginnings in the Renaissance. The beautifully delicate etchings of
Durer are selling on today's art market for thousands of dollars. Later,
Rembrandt created many drypoints and etchings that can compare with any of his
paintings.
Although
some artists created prints as original art forms, in general the print at this
time was used as a translation of paintings, architecture and sculpture,
generally used as illustrations. The prints of Goya and Daumier are exquisite
and powerful works of art; those of Goya even surpassing some of his paintings
in expressiveness and technique. By the late Nineteenth Century, printmaking
became recognized by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Gaugin as a medium singular
identity and potential.
The
Twentieth Century has seen a steady growth of interest and experimentation with
the print resulting in new techniques and an increased variety of means to
produce prints. The current renaissance of printmaking is at last beginning to
elevate the print to its rightful place as a medium with its own unique
qualities, possibilities and beauties. The present status of the print is not
really a revival, for the print is taking on dimensions and directions
heretofore non-existent.
As in
all art movements, the print renaissance is not removed or separate from the
trends of mid-Twentieth Century culture. Aside from the technological advances
related to the creation of a print, there is one characteristic of the print
that makes it a truly contemporary medium-that is its multiple production.
Ironically,
this is also its major obstacle to becoming accepted-and in effect purchased-by
the art buying public. In this day of television, movies, records, magazines,
instantaneous communication and travel, the majority of people refuse to accept
the validity of the print as an object of art because more than one exists. These
same people, however, will pay admission to a theatre or cinema to experience a
performance of "Midsummer Night's Dream" or "2001" simultaneously
with 300 other people or purchase one of a million recordings of the New York
Philharmonic Orchestra or the Beatles or read most of the best-selling literary
works but still refrain from buying a print because of multiple availability.
This hesitancy-no-outright
negativism!-toward prints is practiced by artists as well. There are many who
reject the medium because of its "mass production" or call it
"easy" because the product of the labor of creation is multiple. I
wonder if any of these “single-minded” individuals have ever thought about
twins!
Such
prejudice is an unwillingness to think beyond the times when art was thought to
belong only in museums, palaces and cathedrals, where the general public had
little chance to see it much less own it. Art belongs where people are-where it
can be seen and experienced naturally, easily and often. Though there is a
granted increase in the purchase of art today for private and commercial
enjoyment, the price and good paintings and sculpture the vast majority of the
opportunity to own an or by an artist. Solution? The Print.
This
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time of this quotation. We apologize to David Mendoza for any errors or omissions
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