The History and Evolution of 2D Design
Printmaking (or two-dimensional design) is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. It is a part of history; it is actually the basis of some discoveries. Engraving, a basic technique of printmaking is practiced by the Sumerians; they used to engrave designs on stone cylinder seals. However, according to some historians it was the Chinese who were the first to construct printmaking. The first that was recorded to be an authentic print was made by the Japanese on the 8th century that was constructed with the use of wood block rubbing that was made into Buddha charms. European printmaking began with textile printing as early as the 6th century, while printing on paper had to wait a bit longer for its arrival of paper technology from the Far East. The first paper produced in Europe was in Jativa in Spain in 1151. The first woodcuts printed on paper were playing cards produced in Germany at the beginning of the 15th century. It was only slightly before this that the first royal seals and stamps appeared in England of Henry VI. During the time when paper was invented, the woodcut method was prominent. Henry VI was the first to use royal seals and stamps with the use of woodcut method. After the introduction of printmaking on wood, metal engraving started. The earliest to create this were the Germans, although this type was very exceptional because only goldsmiths and weapon makers uses this. The 17th century saw a flowering of ornamental and portrait work all over Europe, with Rubens and Van Dyck leading the way in Flanders. By this time most intaglio work was acid etched, as contemporary artists considered this a less commercial, more creative, nobler technique. Though Italy was a hotbed of etching, ironically the leading etchers there were foreigners: Jaques Callot and Claude Lorrain from France and the Spaniard, Jose de la Ribera. The leading figure in the Netherlands at this time was, of course, Rembrandt, who left to posterity a monumental benchmark both in terms of quantity and quality. His approximately 300 plates represent virtually every aspect of human endeavor. Europe’s printmaking center of gravity moved to Italy in the 18th century, beginning with Tiepolo who, it is said, exercised a significant influence on Francisco Goya. Then came Canaletto, the chronicler of Venice and Piranesi, allegedly the most important architectural printmaker of all time with some 3,000 large architectural etchings. The tradition of distinguished English printmaking dates only from Hogarth in the 18th century, but he was quickly followed by the satirical Rowlandson and then William Blake, the crown jewel among British printmakers. Blake’s contemporary in Spain was Goya, who stretched the limits of printmaking to new heights and depths. Printmaking, like everything else in the art world, exploded in the first half of the 20th century. First and foremost was Pablo Picasso, the Spanish lad from Malaga who made more than 1,000 prints including etchings, engravings, drypoints, woodcuts, lithographs, and linocuts. Picasso almost single handedly returned printmaking’s center of gravity to France. Then came Braque, Matisse, Rouault, Chagal, Joan Miro, Max Ernst, Jan Arp, Salvador Dali, and others. In Germany it was the time of the Expressionists, Emil Nolde, Max Beckmann (who taught in the U.S.A. after the Second World War), George Grosz, Ernst Barlach, Erich Heckel, Oskar Kokoschka, and others. Hot on the heels of Expressionism in Germany came the Bauhaus, where artists like Kandinsky, Paul Klee produced seminal work. Traditional techniques of printmaking fall into 4 categories which are as follows: There are several types of printmaking which includes: The woodcut is the art of engraving on wood by hollowing out with chisels areas of a plank of usually cherry wood, pear, apple, or boxwood, leaving a design on the surface. The linocut is a printmaking technique similar to that of the woodcut, the difference being that the image is engraved on linoleum instead of wood. Since linoleum offers easier surface for working, linocuts offer more precision and a greater variety of effects than woodcuts. This is the printmaking technique invented by the Senefelder in Germany in 1796 which takes advantage of the repulsion between oil and water to transfer an image from a smooth limestone surface to a sheet of paper. It is considered one of the most authentic means of artistic reproduction as it prints directly the touch of the artist’s hand. Silk screen, screen print or “serigraphy” as it prefers to be known in fine-art circles, originated in China and found its way to the West in the 15th century. It’s a stencil process based on the porosity of silk (nylon or other fabric) which allows ink to pass through the areas which are not “stopped” with glue or varnish. Etching is a method of making prints from a metal plate, usually copper or zinc, which has been bitten with acid. Drypoint is an engraving method in which the design is scratched directly onto the (usually copper) plate with sharp pointed instrument. Mezzotint or “black manner” is the technique which, contrary to the other methods in use, works from black to white rather than white to black. Soft varnish or “vernis mou” became popular in the 18th century and 19th centuries as a method of drawing or transferring designs and textures directly onto a plate. One of the four major types of printmaking techniques whose distinguishing feature is the fact that the ink forming the design is printed only from the recessed areas of the plate. This technique is so called because its finished prints often resemble watercolors or wash drawings. It is a favorite method of printmakers to achieve a wide range of tonal values. Carborundum is really the reverse of etching, wherein diverse materials (carbon powder, iron fillings, and others) are used in a glue medium to build a convex texture on the plate, which is then inked and put through the press. Monotype is one-off technique in which a flat surface on copper, zinc, or glass is painted with oil colors or ink and then passed through the etching press. The process permits only one copy; thus “monotype.” Printmaking is considered to be as a fine art because, a fine art is described to be something created to be judged for its beauty, meaning, and substance. The word fine denotes the meaning of the purity of discipline; differentiating it from visual arts that is more of the practical application. In conclusion, printmaking is considered to be a fine art because it is having different original prints together to form a picture or a story. Sources: www.dpandi.com/DAPTTF/techs.html#trad www.worldprintmakers.com/english/pmhist.htm www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/arts/graphicartists/generalities/Historyofprintmaking.htm www.visual-arts-cork.com/printmaking.htm Credits to Mr. Umali, Mr. Versoza, Mr. Laurel, Mr. Narciso, and Mr. Olang.
