What is the difference between relief, intaglio, lithography, and serigraphy?

What is a “tradigital" print?

What is Fine Art Printmaking ?

Why are some prints one-of-a-kind while others are part of an “edition”?

Why buy fine art prints?

RELIEFis the oldest form of printmaking.  Chinese artists made woodcuts as early as 800 AD. Woodcuts appeared in Europe much later, in 1400 BC.  The basic principle of relief printing is to create an image on paper from the raised surface of a printing block. The artist draws onto a surface and then cuts away the areas that are not to form part of the image. These areas are the negative or the spaces around what we see as the image.  Thus the ink only reaches the areas that the artist does not touch.  The block is inked and a piece of paper is laid over it.  The artist then either rubs the paper by hand, with a hard, smooth object or by running it through a printing press.  The image on the paper mirrors the one on the block.  Woodcuts and lino cuts are the most common examples of relief prints. 

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INTAGLIO is the precise opposite of relief printmaking.  Inthis process the artist carves the image into a metal plate and then rubs ink into the carved lines, making sure that the untouched areas are cleaned of ink. In the intaglio process the paper is previously soaked in water.  When it is laid over the plate and then squashed through the printing press, the soft paper is pushed into the grooves of the inked lines, thus transferring the image onto the paper.  Many intaglio processes involve creating the grooves with acids that eat into a metal plate. Variations of the intaglio method include engraving, etching, aquatint and messotint.

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LITHOGRAPHYallows artists to make a large number of prints from any single image, without deterioration of the quality of image.

Lithography was invented by Aloysius Senefelder (1771-1824) in Bavaria.  The concept of lithography is based on the mutual incompatibility of oil and water.  Senefelder discovered that by chemically treating the surface of limestone, grease crayon would take the printing ink.  Therefore, by drawing into the treated stone in this way, inking it, covering it with a damp paper and running it through a printing press, the image is transferred exactly onto the paper.  Now days the technique is applied using a metal plate.

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SERIGRAPHY is based on the concept of stencil.  The stencil technique uses a thin sheet of impenetrable, durable material with a design cut into it.  This is placed over a receiving surface (paper, canvas, etc.). Thus the paint of dye applied over the surface the of the stencil only reaches the receiving surface where the design has been cut away. The techniques of stencil developed into screen-printing in the United Kingdom in the 1020s.  However, it did not become widely used until the 1960s, when Pop Art had its debut with Andy Worhol.  Now days, silkscreen or screen print is the most commonly known form of serigraphic printmaking.  This technique is used in many day-to-day objects such as posters-shirts, printed fabrics and wallpaper design.  The most famous use of this technique can be seen in the works of Andy Warhol.  The Museum of Modern Art has a nice online demonstration of these techniques at http://www.moma.org/whatisaprint/flash.html.

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In TRADIGITAL printing a process of combining archival digital prints with traditional techniques such as intaglio, woodcut, lithography, etc. are used.

This process allows the artist to crate a multi-color image without using a four-plate process.  In addition to more efficient registration, the artist can work with collage and other mixed media works that can be scanned and reproduced in an archival manner. (Tradigital prints are not the same as Giclee prints) Please see the TRADIGITAL page for more information.

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FINE ART PRINTMAKING is based on the concept of creating a master plate which is used to transfer the image onto paper.  This is generally a hand process.  Today printmaking is an art from that has many subdivisions, each of which is an art from in its own right: etching lithography, linocut, etc.  The printmaking process is generally a complex one, using a variety of different techniques and mediums, depending on the type of print.  The artist creates different surface textures, color effects and forms, just as in a painting, producing a unique work of art, defined by the artist’s style and personality.

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WHY ARE SOME PRINTS ONE-OF-A-KIND while others are part of an “edition”?   Most time the process of transferring or printing the image can be repeated numerous times, creating editions of the same image. Sometimes each individual print is retouched or added to afterwards making it unique or one-of-a-kind.

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Other techniques involve using the same matrix but different combinations of inks and colors, also creating unique works.  Monoprints and viscosity prints are examples of such works.  An Edition is created when all the prints are identical.  The artist generally limits the edition to a certain number of his or her choice.  He or she then indicates in pencil (usually in the bottom left hand corner) the number of each individual piece and the total number of copies is the edition or example, 5/40.  This would indicate the fifth copy of the edition of 40 prints. After the edition is printed the plate is destroyed.

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WHY BUY FINE ART PRINTS?

Fine art prints, whether editions or one-of-a-kind have a timeless beauty and unusual surface qualities that cannot be found in any other art from.  They are easier to store than other bulkier art work.   Quality fine art prints are available at theChristopher John Gallery at affordable prices.   Properly framed and kept out of direct sunlight they will delight their owner for years to come.

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