Estamp by Dmitry Okulich-Kazarin

POLIGRAPH / PUBLISHING

E STAM P

ЕSTAMP LITOGRAPHY WOODCUT LINOCUT ETCHING

1 LITHOS GRAPHO ESTAMP / LITOGRAPHY

2 XYLON GRAPHO ESTAMP / XYLOGRAPHY

3 AQUA FORTE ESTAMP / ETCHING

HIGH-VOLUME LITHOGRAPHY IS USED PRESENTLY TO PRODUCE POSTERS, MAPS, BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS, AND PACKAGING JUST ABOUT ANY SMOOTH, MASS-PRODUCED ITEM WITH PRINT AND GRAPHICS ON IT. MOST BOOKS, INDEED ALL TYPES OF HIGH-VOLUME TEXT, ARE NOW PRINTED USING 10

OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY. FOR OFFSET LITHOGRAPHY, WHICH DEPENDS ON PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES, FLEXIBLE ALUMINUM POLYESTER, MYLAR OR PAPER PRINTING PLATES ARE USED INSTEAD OF STONE TABLETS. MODERN PRINTING PLATES HAVE A BRUSHED TEXTURE 11

P A G 12 E 17

LITHOS GRAPHO Lithography (from Ancient Greek lithos, meaning “stone”, and graphein, meaning “to write”) is a method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by German author and actor Alois Senefelder as a cheap method of publishing theatrical works.Lithography can be used to print text or artwork onto paper or other suitable material. Lithography originally used an image drawn with oil, fat, or wax onto the surface of a smooth, level lithographic limestone plate. The stone was treated with a mixture of acid and gum arabic, etching the portions of the stone that were not protected by the grease-based image. When the stone was subsequently moistened, these etched areas retained water; an oil-based ink could then be applied and would be repelled by the water, sticking only to the original drawing. The ink would finally be transferred to a blank paper sheet, producing a printed page. This traditional technique is still used in some fine art printmaking applications. In modern lithography, the image is made of a polymer coating applied to a flexible aluminum plate. The image can be printed directly from the plate (the orientation of the image is reversed), or it can be offset, by transferring the image onto a flexible sheet (rubber) for printing and publication. As a printing technology, lithography is different from intaglio printing (gravure), wherein a plate is either engraved, etched, or stippled to score cavities to contain the printing ink; and woodblock printing or letterpress printing, wherein ink is applied to the raised surfaces of

Block-books, where both text and images are cut on a single block for a whole page, appeared in Europe in the mid-15th century. As they were almost always undated and without statement of printer or place of printing, determining their dates of printing has been an extremely difficult task.

letters or images. Today, most types of high-volume books and magazines, especially when illustrated in colour, are printed with offset lithography, which has become the most common form of printing technology since the 1960s. The word lithography also denotes photolithography, a microfabrication technique used in the microelectronics industry to make integrated circuits and microelectromechanical systems. Lithography uses simple chemical processes to create an image. For instance, the positive part of an image is a water-repelling (“hydrophobic”) substance,

while the negative image would be water-retaining (“hydrophilic”). Thus, when the plate is introduced to a compatible printing ink and water mixture, the ink will adhere to the positive image and the water will clean the negative image. This allows a flat print plate to be used, enabling much longer and more detailed print runs than the older physical methods of printing (e.g., intaglio printing, letterpress printing). Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in the Kingdom of Bavaria in 1796. In the early days of lithography, a smooth piece of limestone was used (hence the name “lithography”: “lithos” is the ancient Greek word for stone). After the oil-based image was put on the surface, a solution of gum arabic in water was applied, the gum sticking only to the non-oily surface. During printing, water adhered to the gum arabic surfaces and avoided the oily parts, while the oily ink used for printing did the opposite. Lithography works because of the mutual repulsion of oil and water. The image is drawn on the surface of the print plate with a fat or oil-based medium (hydrophobic) such as a wax crayon, which may be pigmented to make the drawing visible. A wide range of oil-based media is available, but the durability of the image on the stone depends on the lipid content of the material being used, and its ability to withstand water and acid. After the drawing of the image, an aqueous solution of gum arabic, weakly acidified with nitric acid HNO3 is applied to the stone. The function of this solution is to create a hydrophilic layer of calcium nitrate salt, Ca(NO3)2, and gum arabic on all non-image surfaces. The gum solution penetrates into the pores of the stone, completely surrounding the original image with a hydrophilic layer that will not accept the printing ink. Using lithographic turpentine, the printer then removes any excess of the greasy drawing material, but a hydrophobic molecular film of it remains tightly bonded to the surface of the stone, rejecting the gum arabic and water, but ready to accept the oily ink. When printing, the stone is kept wet with water. Naturally the water is attracted to the layer of gum

and salt created by the acid wash. Printing ink based on drying oils such as linseed oil and varnish loaded with pigment is then rolled over the surface. The water repels the greasy ink but the hydrophobic areas left by the original drawing material accept it. When the hydrophobic image is loaded with ink, the stone and paper are run through a press that applies even pressure over the surface, transferring the ink to the paper and off the stone. Senefelder had experimented during the early 19th century with multicolor lithography; in his 1819 book, he predicted that the process would eventually be perfected and used to reproduce paintings. Multi-color printing was introduced by a new process developed by Godefroy Engelmann (France) in 1837 known as chromolithography. A separate stone was used for each color, and a print went through the press separately for each stone. The main challenge was to keep the images aligned (in register). This method lent itself to images consisting of large areas of flat color, and resulted in the characteristic poster designs of this period. “Lithography, or printing from soft stone, largely took the place of engraving in the production of English commercial maps after about 1852. It was a quick, cheap process and had been used to print British army maps during the Peninsula War. Most of the commercial maps of the second half of the 19th century were lithographed and unattrac-

Johannes Gutenberg’s work on the printing press began in approximately 1436 when he partnered with Andreas Dritzehn—a man who had previously instructed in gem-cutting—and Andreas Heilmann, owner of a paper mill.However, it was not until a 1439 lawsuit against Gutenberg that an official record existed; witnesses’ testimony discussed Gutenberg’s types, an inventory of metals (including lead), and his type molds. Having previously worked as a professional goldsmith, Gutenberg made skillful use of the knowledge of metals he had learned as a craftsman. He was the first to make type from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony, which was critical for

tive, though accurate enough.

producing durable type that produced

High-volume lithography is used presently to produce posters, maps, books, newspapers, and packaging—just about any smooth, mass-produced item with print and graphics on it. Most books, indeed all types of high-volume text, are now printed using offset lithography. For offset lithography, which depends on photographic processes, flexible aluminum, polyester, mylar or paper printing plates are used instead of stone tablets. Modern printing plates have a brushed or roughened texture and are covered with a photosensitive emulsion. A photographic negative of the desired image is placed in contact with the emulsion and the plate is exposed to ultraviolet light. After development, the emulsion shows a reverse of the negative image, which is thus a duplicate of the original (positive) image. The image on the plate emulsion can also be created by direct laser imaging in a CTP

high-quality printed books and proved to be much better suited for printing than all other known materials. To create these lead types, Gutenberg used what is considered one of his most ingenious inventions, a special matrix enabling the quick and precise molding of new type blocks from a uniform template. His type case is estimated to have contained around 290 separate letter boxes, most of which were required for special characters, ligatures, punctuation marks, and so forth. Gutenberg is also credited with the introduction of an oil-based ink which was more durable than the previously used water-based inks. As printing material he used both paper and vellum (high-quality parchment).

(Computer-To-Plate) device known as a platesetter. The positive image is the emulsion that remains after imaging. Non-image portions of the emulsion have traditionally been removed by a chemical process, though in recent times plates have come available that do not require such processing. If this image were transferred directly to paper, it would create a mirror-type image and the paper would become too wet. Instead, the plate rolls against a cylinder covered with a rubber blanket, which squeezes away the water, picks up the ink and transfers it to the paper with uniform pressure. The paper passes between the blanket cylinder and a counter-pressure or impression cylinder and the image is transferred to the paper. Because the image is first transferred, or offset to the rubber blanket cylinder, this reproduction method is known as offset lithography or offset printing. Many innovations and technical refinements have been made in printing processes and presses over the years, including the development of presses with multiple units (each containing one printing plate) that can print multi-color images in one pass on both sides of the sheet, and presses that accommodate continuous rolls (webs) of paper, known as web presses. Another innovation was the continuous dampening system first introduced by Dahlgren instead of the old method which is still used on older presses (conventional dampening), which are rollers covered with molleton (cloth) that absorbs the water. This increased control of the water flow to the plate and allowed for better ink and water balance. Current dampening systems include a “delta effect or vario,” which slows the roller in contact with the plate, thus creating a sweeping movement over the ink image to clean impurities known as “hickies”. The process of lithography printing is illustrated by this simplified diagram. This press is also called an ink pyramid because the ink is transferred through several layers of rollers with different purposes. Fast lithographic ‘web’ printing presses are commonly used in newspaper production. The advent of desktop publishing made it possible for type and images to be modified easily on personal computers for eventual printing by desktop or commercial presses. The development of digital imagesetters enabled print shops to produce negatives for platemaking directly from digital input, skipping the intermediate step of photographing an actual page layout. The development of the digital platesetter during the late 20th century eliminated film negatives altogether by exposing printing plates directly from digital input, a process known as computer to plate printing.

During the first years of the 19th century, lithography had only a limited effect on printmaking, mainly because technical difficulties remained to be overcome. Germany was the main center of production in this period. Godefroy Engelmann, who moved his press from Mulhouse to Paris in 1816, largely succeeded in resolving the technical problems, and during the 1820s lithography was adopted by artists such as Delacroix and Géricault. London also became a center, and some of Géricault’s prints were in fact produced there. Goya in Bordeaux produced his last series of prints by lithography—The Bulls of Bordeaux of 1828. By the mid-century the initial enthusiasm had somewhat diminished in both countries, although the use of lithography was increasingly favored for commercial applications, which included the prints of Daumier, published in newspapers. Rodolphe Bresdin and Jean-François Millet also continued to practice the medium in France, and Adolf Menzel in Germany.

NANO LITOGRAPHY

Microlithography and nanoli-

cially advanced form of nanoli-

photolithography.

duce an image on the wafer using

thography refer specifically to

thography, other techniques are

In addition to these commercially

a photomask. The photomask

lithographic patterning methods

also used. Some, for example

well-established techniques, a

blocks light in some areas and lets

capable of structuring material

electron beam lithography, are

large number of promising micro-

it pass in others. (Maskless lithog-

on a fine scale. Typically, features

capable of much greater patterning

lithographic and nanolithographic

raphy projects a precise beam di-

smaller than 10 micrometers are

resolution (sometimes as small

technologies exist or are being

rectly onto the wafer without using

considered microlithographic,

as a few nanometers). Electron

developed, including nanoim-

a mask, but it is not widely used in

and features smaller than 100

beam lithography is also important

print lithography, interference

commercial processes.) Exposure

nanometers are considered

commercially, primarily for its use

lithography, X-ray lithography,

systems may be classified by the

nanolithographic. Photolithography

in the manufacture of photomasks.

extreme ultraviolet lithography,

optics that transfer the image from

is one of these methods, often

Electron beam lithography as it

magnetolithography and scanning

the mask to the wafer.

applied to semiconductor manu-

is usually practiced is a form of

probe lithography. Some of these

facturing of microchips. Photoli-

maskless lithography, in that a

new techniques have been used

thography is also commonly used

mask is not required to generate

successfully for small-scale com-

for fabricating Microelectrome-

the final pattern. Instead, the

mercial and important research

chanical systems (MEMS) devices.

final pattern is created directly

applications. Surface-charge

Photolithography generally uses

from a digital representation on

lithography, in fact Plasma

a pre-fabricated photomask or

a computer, by controlling an

desorption mass spectrometry

reticle as a master from which the

electron beam as it scans across

can be directly patterned on polar

final pattern is derived.

a resist-coated substrate. Electron

dielectric crystals via pyroelectric

Although photolithographic

beam lithography has the disad-

effect, Diffraction lithography.

technology is the most commer-

vantage of being much slower than

Exposure systems typically pro-

LITHOGRAPHY AS AN ARTISTIC MEDIUM In 1862 the publisher Cadart tried to initiate a portfolio of lithographs by various artists, which was not successful but included several prints by Manet. The revival began during the 1870s, especially in France with artists such as Odilon Redon, Henri Fantin-Latour and Degas producing much of their work in this manner. The need for strictly limited editions to maintain the price had now been realized, and the medium became more accepted. In the 1890s, color lithography gained success in part by the emergence of Jules Chéret, known as the father of the modern poster, whose work went on to inspired a new generation of poster designers and painters, most notably Toulouse-Lautrec, and former student of Chéret, Georges de Feure. By 1900 the medium in both color and monotone was an accepted part of printmaking. During the 20th century, a group of artists, including Braque, Calder, Chagall, Dufy, Léger, Matisse, Miró, and Picasso, rediscovered the largely undeveloped art form of lithography thanks to the Mourlot Studios, also known as Atelier Mourlot, a Parisian printshop founded in 1852 by the Mourlot family. The Atelier Mourlot originally specialized in the printing of wallpaper; but it was transformed when the founder’s grandson, Fernand Mourlot, invited a number of 20th-century artists to explore the complexities of fine art printing. Mourlot encouraged the painters to work directly on lithographic stones in order to create original artworks that could then be executed under the direction of master printers in small editions. The combination of modern artist and master printer resulted in lithographs that were used as posters to promote the artists’ work. Grant Wood, George Bellows, Alphonse Mucha, Max Kahn, Pablo Picasso, Eleanor Coen, Jasper Johns, David Hockney, Susan Dorothea White and Robert Rauschenberg are a few of the artists who have produced most of their prints in the medium. M. C. Escher is considered a master of lithography,

Offset printing is a commonly used technique in which the inked image is transferred (or “offset”) from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called “fountain solution”), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free. The modern “web” process feeds a large reel of paper through a large press machine in several parts, typically for several metres, which then prints continuously as the paper is fed through.

and many of his prints were created using this process. More than other printmaking techniques, printmakers in lithography still largely depend on access to good printers, and the development of the medium has been greatly influenced by when and where these have been established. As a special form of lithography, the serilith process is sometimes used. Seriliths are mixed media original prints created in a process in which an artist uses the lithograph and serigraph processes. The separations for both processes are hand-drawn by the artist. The serilith technique is used primarily to create fine art limited print editions. The revival began during the 1870s, especially in France with artists such as Odilon Redon, Henri Fantin-Latour and Degas producing much of their work in this manner. The need for strictly limited editions to maintain the price had now been realized, and the medium became more accepted. Extreme ultraviolet lithography (also known as EUV or EUVL) is a next-generation lithography technology using an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength, currently expected to be 13.5 nm. EUV is currently targeted for possible future use below 15 nm resolution after the 7 nm node, in 2018–19. The primary EUV tool maker, ASML, projects EUV at 5 nm node to require a higher numerical aperture than currently available and multiple patterning to a greater degree than immersion lithography at 20 nm node. It was first targeted for 100 nm conventional patterning. While source power is the chief concern due to its impact on productivity, significant changes in mask infrastructure, including blanks, pellicles and inspection, are also under study. Particle contamination would be prohibitive if pellicles were not stable above 200 W, i.e., the targeted power for manufacturing.[5] Without pellicles, particle adders would reduce yield, which has not been an issue for conventional optical lithography with 193 nm light and pellicles. The current lack of any suitable pellicle material, aggravated by the use of hydrogen plasma cleaning in the EUV

Senefelder was decorated by King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria and a statue of him stands in the town of Solnhofen, where lithographic stone is still quarried. A statue of Alois Senefelder by sculptor Rudolf Pohle was erected in 1892 in what was then known as Thusneldaplatz in Berlin. The name of the square was changed to Senefelderplatz in 1894. An U-Bahn station named Senefelderplatz was opened in 1913. Alois Senefelder’s contribution ranks alongside William Ged’s invention of stereotyping, Friedrich Koenig’s steam press and Ottmar Mergenthaler’s linotype machine in its innovative effect. It made printing more affordable and available to more people, and was important in art and newspaper printing. Senefelder lived to see his process become widely adopted both for art printmaking and as the dominant method of pictorial reproduction in the printing industry. He died in Munich, where he is buried in the Alter Südfriedhof.

scanner,is preventing the adoption of EUV lithography for volume production. Neutral atoms or condensed matter cannot emit EUV radiation. Ionization must precede EUV emission in matter. Electrons must be bound to multicharged positive ions; for example, to remove an electron from a +3 charged carbon ion (three electrons already removed) requires about 65 eV.Such electrons are more tightly bound than typical valence electrons. The thermal production of multicharged positive ions is only possible in a hot dense plasma, which itself strongly absorbs EUV. Xe or Sn plasma sources are either discharge-produced or laser-produced. Discharge-produced plasma is made by discharging a lightning boltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of electric current through a tin vapor. Laser-produced plasma is made by microscopic droplets of molten tin heated by powerful laser. Laser-produced plasma sources (e.g., ASMLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NXE:3300B scanner) outperform discharge-produced plasma sources. Power output exceeding 100 W is a requirement for sufficient throughput. While state-of-the-art 193 nm ArF excimer lasers offer intensities of 200 W/cm2,[12] lasers for producing EUV-generating plasmas need to be much more intense, on the order of 1011 W/cm2. This indicates the enormous energy burden imposed by switching from 193 nm light (power output approaching 100 W)[14] to EUV light (10 kW). An EUV source driven by a 200 kW CO2 laser with ~10% wall plug efficiency consumes an electrical power of ~2 MW, while a 100 W ArF immersion laser with ~1% wall plug efficiency consumes an electrical power of ~10 kW. A state-of-the-art ArF immersion lithography 120 W light source requires no more than 40 kW[18] while EUV sources are targeted to exceed 40 kW. A further characteristic of the plasma-based EUV sources under development is that they are not even partially coherent,[20] unlike the KrF and ArF excimer lasers used for current optical lithography. Further power reduction (energy loss) is expected in converting incoherent sources (emitting in all possible directions at many independent wavelengths) to partially coherent (emitting in a limited range of directions within a narrow wavelength band) sources by filtering. Coherent light poses a risk of monochromatic reflection interference and mismatch of multilayer reflectance bandwidth.

The highly relativistic vacuum tube free-electron lasers and synchrotron radiation sources can give better light quality than material sources, though high intensity may require development work. Existing dedicated industrial synchrotron light facilities with applications including semiconductor device fabrication. Free electron lasers offer light that is monochromatic and coherent, as well as narrow in space and angle spread. Both also offer a continuous range of available wavelengths, allowing seamless progress into the X-ray band. At SPIE 2014, TSMC reported that the 200 kW CO2 laser for their NXE:3100 EUV tool light source had a misalignment problem.[28] The laser was supposed to focus on a tin droplet that absorbs the power to generate EUV light. Missing the droplet directed the power elsewhere, leading to component damage and downtime. As of September 2015, ASML demonstrated EUV tools with light source power of 130W and over 70% uptime at multiple customer sites, but only for limited one-week periods, over four weeks in one case.

ALOYS SENEFELDER

Born Aloys Johann Nepomuk Franz

printing. He joined with the André

Europe and publicized his findings in

most important technique in colour

Senefelder in Prague, then Imperial

family of music publishers and

1818 in Vollstandiges Lehrbuch der

printing until the introduction of

city (Reichsstadt) of the Holy Roman

gradually brought his technique into

Steindruckerei which was translated

process colour.

Empire of the German Nation, where

a workable form, perfecting both the

in 1819 into French and English. A

his actor father was appearing on

chemical processes and the special

Complete Course of Lithography

stage. He was educated in Munich

form of printing press required for

combined Senefelder’s history of his

and won a scholarship to study

using the stones. He called it “stone

own invention with a practical guide

law at Ingolstadt. The death of his

printing” or “chemical printing”,

to lithography, and remained in print

father in 1791 forced him to leave

but the French name “lithography”

as recently as 1977 (Da Capo Press).

his studies to support his mother

became more widely adopted. And

Senefelder was also able to exploit

and eight siblings, and he became

with the composer Franz Gleißner

the potential of lithography as a

an actor and wrote a successful play

he started a publishing firm in 1796

medium for art. Unlike previous

Connoisseur of Girls.

using lithography.

printmaking techniques, such as

Problems with the printing of his

The value of the new cheap and

engraving, that required advanced

play Mathilde von Altenstein caused

exact reproduction process was

craft skills, lithography facilitated

him to fall into debt, and unable to

recognized early by land surveying

greater accuracy and textual variety,

afford to publish a new play he had

offices across Europe. Senefelder

because the artist could now draw

written, Senefelder experimented

was appointed 1809 to be the

directly onto the plate with familiar

with a novel etching technique

Inspector of a new Institution set up

pens.[5] As early as 1803 André pub-

using a greasy, acid resistant ink as

for this purpose in Bavaria called the

lished in London a portfolio of artists

a resist on a smooth fine-grained

“Lithographic Institute” (Lithogra-

lithographs, entitled Specimens of

stone of Solnhofen limestone. He

phische Anstalt) in Munich. Similar

Polyautography.[6]

then discovered that this could be

Institutions were subsequently set

In 1837, lithography had been

extended to allow printing from

up under his supervision in Berlin,

further developed to allow full

the flat surface of the stone alone,

Paris, London and Vienna.

colour printing from multiple plates,

the first planographic process in

He secured patent rights across

and chromolithography was the

CHINA AND KOREA

Woodblock printing in China is

in 1966.[12] Its Buddhist text was

In late 10th century China the

strongly associated with Buddhism,

printed on a 8 cm × 630 cm (3.1 in

complete Buddhist canon Tripitaka

which encouraged the spread of

× 248.0 in) mulberry paper scroll in

of 130,000 pages was printed with

charms and sutras. In the Tang

the early Korean Kingdom of Unified

blocks, which took between 1080

Dynasty, a Chinese writer named

Silla. Another version of the Dharani

and 1102, and many other very

Fenzhi first mentioned in his book

sutra, printed in Japan around AD

long works were printed. Early

“Yuan Xian San Ji” that the wood-

770, is also frequently cited as an ex-

books were on scrolls, but other

block was used to print Buddhist

ample of early printing. One million

book formats were developed. First

scriptures during the Zhenguan

copies of the sutra, along with other

came the Jingzhe zhuang or “sutra

years (AD 627~649).

prayers, were ordered to be produced

binding”, a scroll folded concerti-

An early example of woodblock

by Empress Shōtoku. As each copy

na-wise, which avoided the need to

printing on paper was discovered in

was then stored in a tiny wooden pa-

unroll half a scroll to see a passage

1974 in an excavation in Xi’an (the

goda, the copies are together known

in the middle. About AD 1000

capital of Tang-Dynasty China, then

as the Hyakumantō Darani.

“butterfly binding” was developed;

called Chang’an), Shaanxi, China,

The world’s earliest dated (AD

two pages were printed on a sheet,

whereby individual sheets of paper

868) printed book is a Chinese

which was then folded inwards. The

were pressed into wooden blocks

scroll about sixteen feet long and

sheets were then pasted together

with the text and illustrations carved

containing the text of the Diamond

at the fold to make a codex with

into them.[11] It is a dharani sutra

Sutra. It was found in 1907 by the

alternate openings of printed and

printed on hemp paper and dated to

archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein

blank pairs of pages. In the 14th

650 to 670 AD, during the Tang Dy-

in Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, and

century the folding was reversed

nasty (618–907).[11] Another printed

is now in the British Museum. The

outwards to give continuous print-

document dating to the early half of

book displays a great maturity of

ed pages, each backed by a blank

the Chinese Tang Dynasty has also

design and layout and speaks of a

hidden page. Later the bindings

been found, the Saddharma pundari-

considerable ancestry for woodblock

were sewn rather than pasted.

ka sutra printed from 690 to 699.

printing. The colophon, at the inner

The oldest existing print done with

end, reads: Reverently [caused to be]

wood-blocks is the Mugujeongg-

made for universal free distribution

wang great Dharani sutra that is

by Wang Jie on behalf of his two

dated between AD 704 and 751. It

parents on the 13th of the 4th moon

was found at Bulguksa, South Korea

of the 9th year of Xiantong.

IN BOTH EUROPE AND THE FAR EAST, SUCH AS JAPAN AND CHINA, IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY SOME ARTISTS BEGAN TO DO THE WHOLE PROCESS THEMSELVES. IN JAPAN, THIS MOVEMENT WAS CALLED SŌSAKU HANGA,AS OPPOSED TO THE SHIN HANGA MOVEMENT, WHICH RE32

TAINED THE TRADITIONAL METHODS. IN THE WEST, MANY ARTISTS USED THE EASIER TECHNIQUE OF LINOCUT INSTEAD. COMPARED TO INTAGLIO TECHNIQUES LIKE ETCHING AND ENGRAVING, ONLY LOW PRESSURE IS REQUIRED TO PRINT. AS A RELIEF METHOD, IT IS ONLY NECESSARY TO INK 33

X Y LO N G R A P H O Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the grain of the wood (unlike wood engraving where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas. Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (using a different block for each color). The art of carving the woodcut can be called “xylography”, but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and “xylographic” are used in connection with blockbooks, which are small books containing text and images in the same block. Single-leaf woodcut is a term for a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration. In both Europe and the Far East, traditionally the artist only designed the woodcut, and the block-carving was left to specialist craftsmen, called block-cutters, or Formschneider in Germany, some of whom became well known in their own right. Among these the best known are the 16th century Hieronymus Andreae (who also used “Formschneider” as his surname), Hans Lützelburger and Jost de Negker, all of whom ran workshops and also operated as printers and publishers. The formschneider in turn handed the block on to specialist printers. There were further specialists who made the blank blocks. This is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as “designed by” rather than “by” an artist; but most authorities do not use this distinction. The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium relatively easily, without needing to learn the use of woodworking tools. There were various methods of transferring the artist’s drawn design onto the block for the cutter to follow. Either the drawing would be made directly onto the block (often whitened

first), or a drawing on paper was glued to the block. Either way, the artist’s drawing was destroyed during the cutting process. Other methods were used, including tracing. In both Europe and the Far East, such as Japan and China, in the early twentieth century some artists began to do the whole process themselves. In Japan, this movement was called Sōsaku hanga, as opposed to the Shin hanga movement, which retained the traditional methods. In the West, many artists used the easier technique of linocut instead. Compared to intaglio techniques like etching and engraving, only low pressure is required to print. As a relief method, it is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. In Europe a variety of woods including boxwood and several nut and fruit woods like pear or cherry were commonly used; in Japan, the wood of the cherry species Prunus serrulata was preferred. Stamping: Used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts (1400–40). These were printed by putting the paper/fabric on a table or other flat surface with the block on top, and pressing or hammering the back of the block Rubbing: Apparently the most common method for Far Eastern printing on paper at all times. Used for European woodcuts and block-books later in the fifteenth century, and very widely for cloth. Also used for many Western woodcuts from about 1910 to the present. The block goes face up on a table, with the paper or fabric on top. The back is rubbed with a “hard pad, a flat piece of wood, a burnisher, or a leather frotton”.[2] A traditional Japanese tool used for this is called a baren. Later in Japan, complex wooden mechanisms were used to help hold the woodblock perfectly still and to apply proper pressure in the printing process. This was especially helpful once multiple colors were introduced and had to be applied with precision atop previous ink layers. Printing in a press: presses only seem to have been used in Asia in relatively recent times. Printing-presses were used from about 1480 for European prints and block-books, and before that for woodcut book illustrations. Simple weighted presses may have been used in Europe before the print-press, but firm evidence is lacking. A deceased Abbess of Mechelen in 1465 had “unum instrumentum ad imprintendum scripturas et ymagines ... cum 14 aliis lapideis printis”—”an instrument for printing texts and pictures ... with 14 stones for printing.” This is probably too early to be a Gutenberg-type printing press in that location. Woodcut or woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns that was used widely throughout East

Asia. It originated in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later on paper.The earliest woodblock printed fragments to survive are from China and are of silk printed with flowers in three colours from the Han Dynasty (before AD 220). “In the 13th century the Chinese technique of blockprinting was transmitted to Europe.” Paper arrived in Europe, also from China via Islamic Spain, slightly later, and was being manufactured in Italy by the end of the thirteenth century, and in Burgundy and Germany by the end of the fourteenth. In Europe, woodcut is the oldest technique used for old master prints, developing about 1400, by using, on paper, existing techniques for printing. One of the more ancient woodcuts on paper that can be seen today is The Fire Madonna (Madonna del Fuoco, in the Italian language), in the Cathedral of Forlì, in Italy. The explosion of sales of cheap woodcuts in the middle of the century led to a fall in standards, and many popular prints were very crude. The development of hatching followed on rather later than engraving. Michael Wolgemut was significant in making German woodcuts more sophisticated from about 1475, and Erhard Reuwich was the first to use cross-hatching (far harder to do than engraving or etching). Both of these produced mainly book-illustrations, as did various Italian artists who were also raising standards there at the same period. At the end of the century Albrecht Dürer brought the Western woodcut to a level that, arguably, has never been surpassed, and greatly increased the status of the single-leaf woodcut. As woodcut can be easily printed together with movable type, because both are relief-printed, it was the main medium for book illustrations until the late-sixteenth century. The first woodcut book illustration dates to about 1461, only a few years after the beginning of printing with movable type, printed by Albrecht Pfister in Bamberg. Woodcut was used less often for individual (“single-leaf”) fine-art prints from about 1550 until the late nineteenth century, when interest revived. It remained important for popular prints until the nineteenth century in most of Europe, and later in some places. The art reached a high level of technical and artistic development in East Asia and Iran. In Japan woodblock printing is called “moku hanga”, and was introduced in the seventeenth century for both books and art. The popular “floating world” genre of ukiyo-e originated in the second half of the seventeenth century, with prints in

monochrome or two colours. Sometimes these were hand-coloured after printing. Later prints with many colours were developed. Japanese woodcut became a major artistic form, although at the time it was accorded a much lower status than painting. It continued to develop through to the twentieth century. This technique just carves the image in mostly thin lines, not unlike a rather crude engraving. The block is printed in the normal way, so that most of the print is black with the image created by white lines. This process was invented by the sixteenth-century Swiss artist Urs Graf, but became most popular in the nineteenth and twentieth century, often in a modified form where images used large areas of white-line contrasted with areas in the normal black-line style.This was pioneered by Félix Vallotton. In the 1860s, just as the Japanese themselves were becoming aware of Western art in general, Japanese prints began to reach Europe in considerable numbers, and became very fashionable, especially in France. They had a great influence on many artists, notably Édouard Manet, Pierre Bonnard, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Félix Vallotton and Mary Cassatt. In 1872 Jules Claretie dubbed the trend “Le Japonisme”. Though the Japanese influence was reflected in many artistic media, including painting, it did lead to a revival of the woodcut in Europe, which had been in danger of extinction as a serious art medium. Most of the artists above, except for Félix Vallotton and Paul Gauguin, in fact used lithography, especially for coloured

prints. See below for Japanese influence in illustrations for children’s books. Artists, notably Edvard Munch and Franz Masereel, continued to use the medium, which in Modernism came to appeal because it was relatively easy to complete the whole process, including printing, in a studio with little special equipment. The German Expressionists used woodcut a good deal. Coloured woodcuts first appeared in ancient China. The oldest known are three Buddhist images dating to the 10th century. European woodcut prints with coloured blocks were invented in Germany in 1508 and are known as chiaroscuro woodcuts (see below). However, colour did not become the norm, as it did in Japan, in the ukiyo-e and other forms. In Europe and Japan, colour woodcuts were normally only used for prints rather than book illustrations. In China, where the individual print did not develop until the nineteenth century, the reverse is true, and early colour woodcuts mostly occur in luxury books about art, especially the more prestigious medium of painting. The first known example is a book on ink-cakes printed in 1606, and colour technique reached its height in books on painting published in the seventeenth century. Notable examples are Hu Zhengyan’s Treatise on the Paintings and Writings of the Ten Bamboo Studio of 1633,[6] and the Mustard Seed Garden Painting Manual published in 1679 and 1701. In Japan colour technique, called nishiki-e in its fully developed form, spread more widely, and was used for prints, from the 1760s on. Text was nearly always monochrome, as were images in books, but the growth of the popularity of ukiyo-e brought with it demand for ever increasing numbers of colors and complexity of techniques. By the nineteenth century most artists worked in colour. In the 19th century a number of different methods of colour printing using woodcut (technically Chromoxylography) were developed in Europe. George Baxter patented in 1835 a method using an intaglio line plate (or occasionally a lithograph), printed in black or a dark colour, and then overprinted with up to twenty different colours from woodblocks. Edmund Evans used relief and wood throughout, with up to eleven different colours, and latterly specialized in illustrations for children’s books, using fewer blocks but

W O O D B LO C K P R I N T I N G Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220, and woodblock printing remained the most common East Asian method of printing books and other texts, as well as images, until the 19th century. Ukiyo-e is the best known type of Japanese woodblock art print. Most European uses of the technique for printing images on paper are covered by the art term woodcut, except for the block-books produced mainly in the 15th century. Prior to the invention of woodblock printing, seals and stamps were used for making impressions. The oldest of these seals come from Mesopotamia and Egypt. The use of round “cylinder seals” for rolling an impress onto clay tablets goes back to early Mesopotamian civilization before 3000 BC, where they are the most common works of art to survive, and feature complex and beautiful images. A few much larger brick (e.g. 13×13 cm) stamps for marking clay bricks survive from Akkad from around 2270 BC. There are also Roman lead pipe inscriptions of some length that were stamped, and amulet MS 5236 may be a unique surviving gold foil sheet stamped with an amulet text in the 6th century BC. However none of these used ink, which is necessary for printing (on a proper definition), but stamped marks into relatively soft materials. In both China and Egypt, the use of small stamps for seals preceded the use of larger blocks. In Europe and India, the printing of cloth certainly preceded the printing of paper or papyrus; this was probably also the case in China. The process is essentially the same—in Europe special presentation impressions of prints were often printed on silk until at least the 17th century. The wood block is carefully prepared as a relief pattern, which means the areas to show ‘white’ are cut away with a knife, chisel, or sandpaper leaving the characters or image to show in ‘black’ at the original surface level. The block was cut along the

Block printing has also been extensively used for decorative purposes such as fabrics, leathers and wallpaper. This is easiest with repetitive patterns composed of one or a small number of motifs that are small to medium in size (due to the difficulty of carving and handling larger blocks). For a multi-colour pattern, each colour element is carved as a separate block and individually inked and applied. Block printing was the standard method of producing wallpaper until the early 20th century, and is still used by a few traditionalist firms. It also remains in use for making cloth, mostly in small artisanal settings, for example in India.

grain of the wood. It is necessary only to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. The content would of course print “in reverse” or mirror-image, a further complication when text was involved. The art of carving the woodcut is technically known as xylography, though the term is rarely used in English. For colour printing, multiple blocks are used, each for one colour, although overprinting two colours may produce further colours on the print. Multiple colours can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks. In addition, jia xie is a method for dyeing textiles (usually silk) using wood blocks invented in the 5th6th centuries in China. An upper and a lower block is made, with carved out compartments opening to the back, fitted with plugs. The cloth, usually folded a number of times, is inserted and clamped between the two blocks. By unplugging the different compartments and filling them with dyes of different colours, a multi-coloured pattern can be printed over quite a large area of folded cloth. The method is not strictly printing however, as the pattern is not caused by pressure against the block. The earliest woodblock printing known is in colour—Chinese silk from the Han Dynasty printed in three colours. On paper, European woodcut prints with coloured blocks were invented in Germany in 1508 and are known as chiaroscuro woodcuts. Colour is very common in Asian woodblock printing on paper; in China the first known example is a Diamond sutra of 1341, printed in black and red at the Zifu Temple in modern-day Hubei province. The earliest dated book printed in more than 2 colours is Chengshi moyuan. a book on ink-cakes printed in 1606 and the technique reached its height in books on art published in the first half of the 17th century. The earliest woodblock printed fragments to survive are from China and are of silk printed with flowers in three colours from the Han Dynasty (before AD 220). It is clear that woodblock printing developed in Asia several centuries before Europe. The Chinese were the first to use the process to print solid text, and equally that, much later, in Europe the printing of images on cloth developed into the printing of images on paper

(woodcuts). It is also now established that the use in Europe of the same process to print substantial amounts of text together with images in block-books only came after the development of movable type in the 1450s. In China, an alternative to woodblock printing was a system of reprography since the Han Dynasty using carved stone steles to reproduce pages of text. The three necessary components for woodblock printing are the wood block, which carries the design cut in relief; dye or ink, which had been widely used in the ancient world; and either cloth or paper, which was first developed in China, around the 3rd century BC or 2nd century BC. Woodblock printing on papyrus seems never to have been practised, although it would be possible. A few specimen of wood block printing, possibly called tarsh in Arabic, have been excavated from a 10th-century context in Arabic Egypt. They were mostly used for prayers and amulets. The technique may be spread from China or an independent invention, but had very little impact and virtually disappeared at the end of the 14th century. In India the main importance of the technique has always been as a method of printing textiles, which has been a large industry since at least the 10th century. Large quantities of printed Indian silk and cotton were exported to Europe throughout the Modern Period. Because Chinese has a character set running into the thousands, woodblock printing suits it better than movable type to the extent that characters only need to be created as they occur in the text. Although the Chinese had invented a form of movable type with baked clay in the 11th century, and metal movable type was invented in Korea in the 13th century, woodblocks continued to be preferred owing to the formidable challenges of typesetting Chinese text with its 40,000 or more characters. Also, the objective of printing in the East may have been more focused on standardization of ritual text (such as the Buddhist canon Tripitaka, requiring 80,000 woodblocks), and the purity of validated woodblocks could be maintained for centuries.

CHINA AND KOREA

Woodblock printing in China is

printed on a 8 cm × 630 cm (3.1 in

of 130,000 pages was printed with

strongly associated with Buddhism,

× 248.0 in) mulberry paper scroll in

blocks, which took between 1080

which encouraged the spread of

the early Korean Kingdom of Unified

and 1102, and many other very long

charms and sutras. In the Tang

Silla. Another version of the Dharani

works were printed. Early books

Dynasty, a Chinese writer named

sutra, printed in Japan around AD

were on scrolls, but other book

Fenzhi first mentioned in his book

770, is also frequently cited as an ex-

formats were developed. First came

“Yuan Xian San Ji” that the wood-

ample of early printing. One million

the Jingzhe zhuang or “sutra bind-

block was used to print Buddhist

copies of the sutra, along with other

ing”, a scroll folded concertina-wise,

scriptures during the Zhenguan

prayers, were ordered to be produced

which avoided the need to unroll

years (AD 627~649).

by Empress Shōtoku. As each copy

half a scroll to see a passage in the

An early example of woodblock

was then stored in a tiny wooden pa-

middle. About AD 1000 “butterfly

printing on paper was discovered in

goda, the copies are together known

binding” was developed; two pages

1974 in an excavation in Xi’an (the

as the Hyakumantō Darani.

were printed on a sheet, which was

capital of Tang-Dynasty China, then

The world’s earliest dated (AD

then folded inwards. The sheets

called Chang’an), Shaanxi, China,

868) printed book is a Chinese

were then pasted together at the

whereby individual sheets of paper

scroll about sixteen feet long and

fold to make a codex with alternate

were pressed into wooden blocks

containing the text of the Diamond

openings of printed and blank pairs

with the text and illustrations carved

Sutra. It was found in 1907 by the

of pages. In the 14th century the

into them.[11] It is a dharani sutra

archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein

folding was reversed outwards to

printed on hemp paper and dated to

in Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, and

give continuous printed pages, each

650 to 670 AD, during the Tang Dy-

is now in the British Museum. The

backed by a blank hidden page.

nasty (618–907).[11] Another printed

book displays a great maturity of

Later the bindings were sewn rather

document dating to the early half of

design and layout and speaks of a

than pasted.

the Chinese Tang Dynasty has also

considerable ancestry for woodblock

been found, the Saddharma pundari-

printing. The colophon, at the inner

ka sutra printed from 690 to 699.

end, reads: Reverently [caused to be]

The oldest existing print done with

made for universal free distribution

wood-blocks is the Mugujeongg-

by Wang Jie on behalf of his two

wang great Dharani sutra that is

parents on the 13th of the 4th moon

dated between AD 704 and 751. It

of the 9th year of Xiantong.

was found at Bulguksa, South Korea

In late 10th century China the

in 1966.[12] Its Buddhist text was

complete Buddhist canon Tripitaka

SMOKING NOT ONLY DARKENS THE PLATE BUT ADDS A SMALL AMOUNT OF WAX. AFTERWARDS THE ARTIST USES A SHARP TOOL TO SCRATCH INTO THE GROUND, EXPOSING THE METAL. THE SECOND WAY TO APPLY HARD GROUND IS BY LIQUID HARD GROUND. THIS COMES IN A CAN AND IS AP52

PLIED WITH A BRUSH UPON THE PLATE TO BE ETCHED. EXPOSED TO AIR THE HARD GROUND WILL HARDEN. SOME PRINTMAKERS USE TAR BASED ASPHALTUM OR BITUMEN AS HARD GROUND, ALTHOUGH OFTEN BITUMEN IS USED TO PROTECT STEEL PLATES FROM RUST AND COPPER FROM AGING. 53

AQUA FORTE Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types of material. As a method of printmaking, it is, along with engraving, the most important technique for old master prints, and remains in wide use today. In a number of modern variants such as microfabrication etching and photochemical milling it is a crucial technique in much modern technology, including circuit boards. In traditional pure etching, a metal (usually copper, zinc or steel) plate is covered with a waxy ground which is resistant to acid. The artist then scratches off the ground with a pointed etching needle where he or she wants a line to appear in the finished piece, so exposing the bare metal. The échoppe, a tool with a slanted oval section, is also used for “swelling” lines.[4] The plate is then dipped in a bath of acid, technically called the mordant (French for “biting”) or etchant, or has acid washed over it. The acid “bites” into the metal (it dissolves part of the metal) where it is exposed, leaving behind lines sunk into the plate. The remaining ground is then cleaned off the plate. The plate is inked all over, and then the ink wiped off the surface, leaving only the ink in the etched lines. The plate is then put through a high-pressure printing press together with a sheet of paper (often moistened to soften it).[6] The paper picks up the ink from the etched lines, making a print. The process can be repeated many times; typically several hundred impressions (copies) could be printed before the plate shows much sign of wear. The work on the plate can also be added to by repeating the whole process; this creates an etching which exists in more than one state.

Foul-bite or “over-biting” is common in etching, and is the effect of minuscule amounts of acid leaking through the ground to create minor pitting and burning on the surface. This incidental roughening may be removed by smoothing and polishing the surface, but artists often leave faux-bite, or deliberately court it by handling the plate roughly, because it is viewed as a desirable mark of the process.

Etching has often been combined with other intaglio techniques such as engraving (e.g., Rembrandt) or aquatint (e.g., Francisco Goya). Etching by goldsmiths and other metal-workers in order to decorate metal items such as guns, armour, cups and plates has been known in Europe since the Middle Ages at least, and

may go back to antiquity. The elaborate decoration of armour, in Germany at least, was an art probably imported from Italy around the end of the 15th century—little earlier than the birth of etching as a printmaking technique. The process as applied to printmaking is believed to have been invented by Daniel Hopfer (circa 1470–1536) of Augsburg, Germany. Hopfer was a craftsman who decorated armour in this way, and applied the method to printmaking, using iron plates (many of which still exist). Apart from his prints, there are two proven examples of his work on armour: a shield from 1536 now in the Real Armeria of Madrid and a sword in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum of Nuremberg. An Augsburg horse armour in the German Historical Museum, Berlin, dating to between 1512 and 1515, is decorated with motifs from Hopfer’s etchings and woodcuts, but this is no evidence that Hopfer himself worked on it, as his decorative prints were largely produced as patterns for other craftsmen in various media. The switch to copper plates was probably made in Italy, and thereafter etching soon came to challenge engraving as the most popular medium for artists in printmaking. Its great advantage was that, unlike engraving where the difficult technique for using the burin requires special skill in metalworking, the basic technique for creating the image on the plate in etching is relatively easy to learn for an artist trained in drawing. On the other hand, the handling of the ground and acid need skill and experience, and are not without health and safety risks, as well as the risk of a ruined plate. Prior to 1100 AD, the New World Hohokam independently utilized the technique of acid etching in marine shell designs. Jacques Callot (1592–1635) from Nancy in Lorraine (now part of France) made important technical advances in etching technique. He developed the échoppe, a type of etching-needle with a slanting oval section at the end, which enabled etchers to create a swelling line, as engravers were able to do. Callot also appears to have been responsible for an improved, harder, recipe for the etching ground, using lute-makers’ varnish rather than a wax-based formula. This enabled lines to be more deeply bitten, prolonging the life of the plate in printing, and also greatly reducing the risk of “foul-biting”, where acid gets through the ground to the plate where it is not intended

to, producing spots or blotches on the image. Previously the risk of foul-biting had always been at the back of an etcher’s mind, preventing too much time on a single plate that risked being ruined in the biting process. Now etchers could do the highly detailed work that was previously the monopoly of engravers, and Callot made full use of the new possibilities. Callot also made more extensive and sophisticated use of multiple “stoppings-out” than previous etchers had done. This is the technique of letting the acid bite lightly over the whole plate, then stopping-out those parts of the work which the artist wishes to keep light in tone by covering them with ground before bathing the plate in acid again. He achieved unprecedented subtlety in effects of distance and light and shade by careful control of this process. Most of his prints were relatively small—up to about six inches or 15 cm on their longest dimension, but packed with detail. One of his followers, the Parisian Abraham Bosse, spread Callot’s innovations all over Europe with the first published manual of etching, which was translated into Italian, Dutch, German and English. The 17th century was the great age of etching, with Rembrandt, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione and many other masters. In the 18th century, Piranesi, Tiepolo and Daniel Chodowiecki were the best of a smaller number of fine etchers. In the 19th and early 20th century, the Etching revival produced a host of lesser artists, but no really major figures. Etching is still widely practiced today. A waxy acid-resist, known as a ground, is applied to a metal plate, most often copper or zinc but steel plate is another medium with different qualities. There are two common types of ground: hard ground and soft ground. Hard ground can be applied in two ways. Solid hard ground comes in a hard waxy block. To apply hard ground of this variety, the plate to be etched is placed upon a hot-plate (set at 70 degrees C), a kind of metal worktop that is heated up. The plate heats up and the ground is applied by hand, melting onto the plate as it is applied. The ground is spread over the plate as evenly as possible using a roller. Once applied the etching plate is removed from the hot-plate and allowed to cool which hardens the ground. After the ground has hardened the artist “smokes” the plate, classically with 3 beeswax tapers, applying the flame to the plate to darken the ground and make it easier to see what parts of the plate are exposed.

Relief etching was invented by William Blake in about 1788, and he has been almost the only artist to use it in its original form.[8] However, from 1880–1950 a photo-mechanical (“line-block”) variant was the dominant form of commercial printing for images. A similar process to etching, but printed as a relief print, so it is the “white” background areas which are exposed to the acid, and the areas to print “black” which are covered with ground. Blake’s exact technique remains controversial. He used the technique to print texts and images together, writing the text and drawing lines with an acid-resistant medium.

A receiver plate (cathode) is connected to its negative pole. are immersed in a suitable aqueous solution of a suitable electrolyte. The current pushes the metal out from the anode into solution and deposits it as metal on the cathode. Shortly before 1990, two groups working independently[13][14] developed different ways of applying it to creating intaglio printing plates.

Smoking not only darkens the plate but adds a small amount of wax. Afterwards the artist uses a sharp tool to scratch into the ground, exposing the metal. The second way to apply hard ground is by liquid hard ground. This comes in a can and is applied with a brush upon the plate to be etched. Exposed to air the hard ground will harden. Some printmakers use oil/tar based asphaltum or bitumen as hard ground, although often bitumen is used to protect steel plates from rust and copper plates from aging. Soft ground also comes in liquid form and is allowed to dry but it does not dry hard like hard ground and is

impressionable. After the soft ground has dried the printmaker may apply materials such as leaves, objects, hand prints and so on which will penetrate the soft ground and expose the plate underneath. The ground can also be applied in a fine mist, using powdered rosin or spraypaint. This process is called aquatint, and allows for the creation of tones, shadows, and solid areas of color. The design is then drawn (in reverse) with an etching-needle or échoppe. An “echoppe” point can be made from an ordinary tempered steel etching needle, by grinding the point back on a carborundum stone, at a 45–60 degree angle. The “echoppe” works on the same principle that makes a fountain pen’s line more attractive than a ballpoint’s: The slight swelling variation caused by the natural movement of the hand “warms up” the line, and although hardly noticeable in any individual line, has a very attractive overall effect on the finished plate. It can be drawn with in the same way as an ordinary needle.

Growing concerns about the health effects of acids and solvents[10][11] led to the development of less toxic etching methods[12] in the late 20th century. An early innovation was the use of floor wax as a hard ground for coating the plate. Others, such as printmakers Mark Zaffron and Keith Howard, developed systems using acrylic polymers as a ground and ferric chloride for etching. The polymers are removed with sodium carbonate (washing soda) solution, rather than solvents. When used for etching, ferric chloride does not produce a corrosive gas, as acids do, thus eliminating another danger of traditional etching. The traditional aquatint, which uses either powdered rosin or enamel spray paint, is replaced with an airbrush application of the acrylic polymer hard ground. Again, no solvents are needed beyond the soda ash solution, though a ventilation hood is needed

The plate is then completely submerged in an acid that eats away at the exposed metal. Ferric chloride may be used for etching copper or zinc plates, whereas nitric acid may be used for etching zinc or steel plates. Typical solutions are 2 parts FeCl3 to 2 parts water and 1 part nitric to 3 parts water. The strength of the acid determines the speed of the etching process.

due to acrylic particulates from the air brush spray. The traditional soft ground, requiring solvents for removal from the plate, is replaced with water-based relief printing ink. The ink receives impressions like traditional soft ground, resists the ferric chloride etchant, yet can be cleaned up with warm water and either

The etching process is known as biting (see also spit-biting below). The waxy resist prevents the acid from biting the parts of the plate

soda ash solution or ammonia. Anodic etching has been used in industrial processes for over a century.

which have been covered.. The longer the plate remains in the acid the deeper the “bites” become. During the etching process the printmaker uses a bird feather or similar item to wave away bubbles and detritus produced by the dissolving process, from the surface of the plate, or the plate may be periodically lifted from the acid bath. If a bubble is allowed to remain on the plate then it will stop the acid biting into the plate where the bubble touches it. Zinc produces more bubbles much more rapidly than copper and steel and some artists use this to produce interesting round bubble-like circles within their prints for a

Milky Way effect.

facing” copper plates.

The detritus is powdery dissolved metal that fills the etched grooves and can also block the acid from biting evenly into the exposed plate surfaces. Another way to remove detritus from a plate is to place the plate to be etched face down within the acid upon plasticine balls or marbles, although the drawback of this technique is the exposure to bubbles and the inability to remove them readily. For aquatinting a

Some of the earliest printmaking workshops experimenting with, developing and promoting nontoxic techniques include Grafisk Eksperimentarium, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Edinburgh Printmakers, in Scotland, and New Grounds Print Workshop, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

printmaker will often use a test strip of metal about a centimetre to three centimetres wide. The strip will be dipped into the acid for a specific number of minutes or seconds. The metal strip will then be removed and the acid washed off with water. Part of the strip will be covered in ground and then the strip is redipped into the acid and the process repeated. The ground will then be removed from the strip and the strip inked up and printed. This will show the printmaker the different degrees or depths of the etch, and therefore the strength of the ink color, based upon how long the plate is left in the acid. The plate is removed from the acid and washed over with water to remove the acid. The ground is removed with a solvent such as turpentine. Turpentine is often removed from the plate using methylated spirits since turpentine is greasy and can affect the application of ink and the printing of the plate. Spit-biting is a process whereby the printmaker will apply acid to a plate with a brush in certain areas of the plate. The plate may be aquatinted for this purpose or exposed directly to the acid. The process is known as “spit”-biting due to the use of saliva once used as a medium to dilute the acid, although gum arabic or water are now commonly used. A piece of matte board, a plastic “card”, or a wad of cloth is often used to push the ink into the incised lines. The surface is wiped clean

with a piece of stiff fabric known as tarlatan and then wiped with newsprint paper; some printmakers prefer to use the blade part of their hand or palm at the base of their thumb. The wiping leaves ink in the incisions. You may also use a folded piece of organza silk to do the final wipe. If copper or zinc plates are used, then the plate surface is left very clean and therefore white in the print. If steel plate is used, then the plate’s natural tooth gives the print a grey background similar to the effects of aquatinting. As a result, steel plates do not need aquatinting as gradual exposure of the plate via successive dips into acid will produce the same result. A A piece of matte board, a plastic “card”, or a wad of cloth is often used to push the ink into the incised lines. The surface is wiped clean with a piece of stiff fabric known as tarlatan and then wiped with newsprint paper; some printmakers prefer to use the blade part of their hand or palm at the base of their thumb. The wiping leaves ink in the incisions. You may also use a folded piece of organza silk to do the final wipe. If copper or zinc plates are used, then the plate surface is left very clean and therefore white in the print. If steel plate is used, then the plate’s natural tooth gives the print a grey background similar to the effects of aquatinting. As a result, steel plates do not need aquatinting as gradual exposure of the plate via successive dips into acid will produce the same result.

damp piece of paper is placed over the plate and it is run through the press. Growing concerns about the health effects of acids and solvents led to the development of less toxic etching methods in the late 20th century. An early innovation was the use of floor wax as a hard ground for coating the plate. Others, such as printmakers Mark Zaffron and Keith Howard, developed systems using acrylic polymers as a ground and ferric chloride for etching. The polymers are removed with sodium carbonate (washing soda) solution, rather than solvents. When used for etching, ferric chloride does not produce a corrosive gas, as acids do, thus eliminating another danger of traditional etching. The traditional aquatint, which uses either powdered rosin or enamel spray paint, is replaced with an airbrush application of the acrylic polymer hard ground. Again, no solvents are needed beyond the soda ash solution, though a ventilation hood is needed due to acrylic particulates from the air brush spray. The traditional soft ground, requiring solvents for removal from the plate, is replaced with water-based relief printing ink. The ink receives impressions like traditional soft ground, resists the ferric chloride etchant, yet can be cleaned up with warm

water and either soda ash solution or ammonia. Anodic etching has been used in industrial processes for over a century. The etching power is a source of direct current. The item to be etched (anode) is connected to its positive pole. A receiver plate (cathode) is connected to its negative pole. Both, spaced slightly apart, are immersed in a suitable aqueous solution of a suitable electrolyte. The current pushes the metal out from the anode into solution and deposits it as metal on the cathode. Shortly before 1990, two groups working independently developed different ways of applying it to creating intaglio printing plates.

In the patented Electroetch system, invented by Marion and Omri Behr, in contrast to certain nontoxic etching methods, an etched plate can be reworked as often as the artist desires The system uses voltages below 2 volts which exposes the uneven metal crystals in the etched areas resulting in superior ink retention and printed image appearance of quality equivalent to traditional acid methods. With polarity reversed the low voltage provides a simpler method of making mezzotint plates as well as the “steel facing” copper plates. Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method.It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonality by roughening the plate with thousands of little dots made by a metal tool with small teeth, called a “rocker.” In printing, the tiny pits in the plate hold the ink when the face of the plate is wiped clean. A high level of quality and richness in the print can be achieved. Alternatively, it is possible to create the image directly by only roughening a blank plate selectively, where the darker parts of the image are to be. This is called working from “light to dark”, or the “additive” method. The first mezzotints by Ludwig von Siegen were made in this way. Especially in this method, the mezzotint can be combined with other intaglio techniques, such as engraving, on areas of the plate not roughened, or even with the dark to light method.

AQUATINT

In intaglio printmaking, the artist makes

blow the powder up into the air of the

od (30 seconds to 1 minute, with a wide

marks on the plate (in the case of

box. A window allows the engraver to

variation depending on how light the

aquatint, a copper or zinc plate) that are

see the density of flowing powder and

lightest tones are meant to be). A test

capable of holding ink. The inked plate is

to place his plate in the box using a

piece may be made with etching times

passed through a printing press together

drawer. When the powder covers the

noted, as the strength of the etchant will

with a sheet of paper, resulting in a

plate, it can be extracted from the box

vary. More than thirty minutes should

transfer of the ink to the paper. This can

for the next operations.

produce a very dark area. Etching for

be repeated a number of times, depend-

The plate is then heated; if the plate is

many hours (up to 24) will be as dark as

ing on the particular technique.

covered with powder, the resin melts

etching for one hour, but the deep etch

Like etching, aquatint uses the applica-

forming a fine and even coat; if it is in

would produce raised ink on the paper.

tion of a mordant to etch into the metal

spirits, the spirits evaporate and the

Contemporary printmakers often

plate. Where the engraving technique

result is essentially the same. Now

use spraypaint instead of a powder,

uses a needle to make lines that print in

the plate is dipped in acid, producing

particularly when using the technique

black (or whatever colour ink is used),

an even and fine level of corrosion (the

known as sugar-lift. To produce a print-

aquatint uses powdered rosin to create

“bite”) sufficient to hold ink. At this point,

ing surface using sugar-lift, the artist

a tonal effect. The rosin is acid resistant

the plate is said to carry about a 50%

makes a solution of India ink and sugar

and typically adhered to the plate by

halftone. This means that, were the

by melting sugar into heated ink. This

controlled heating. The tonal variation

plate printed with no further biting, the

mixture is then applied to a prepared

is controlled by the level of mordant

paper would display a gray color more

plate with a brush, allowing for a bold

exposure over large areas, and thus

or less directly in between white (no ink)

expression not possible with the most

the image is shaped by large sections

and black (full ink).

etching techniques. When the ink/sugar

at a time.

Zinc plate with powder resin.

mixture is dry the plate is coated with

Another tonal technique, mezzotint,

At some point the artist will then etch

asphaltum (liquid ground); the plate is

begins with a plate surface that is evenly

an outline of any aspects of the drawing

then submerged in warm water which

indented so that it will carry a fairly dark

s/he wishes to establish with line; this

dissolves the sugar so that the image

tone of ink. The mezzotint plate is then

provides the basis and guide for the

“lifts off” the plate. The exposed areas

smoothed and polished to make areas

later tone work. S/he may also have

are then aquatinted to hold ink and the

carry less ink and thus print a lighter

applied (at the very start, before any

plate is ready to be printed from.

shade. Alternatively, beginning with a

biting occurs) an acid-resistant “stop

smooth plate, areas are roughened to

out” (also called an asphaltum or hard

make them darker. Occasionally these

ground) if s/he intends to keep any

two techniques are combined.

areas totally white and free of ink, such

An aquatint requires a metal plate, an

as highlights.

acid, and something to resist the acid.

The artist then begins immersing the

Traditionally copper or zinc plates were

plate in the acid bath, progressively

used. The artist applies a ground that will

stopping out (protecting from acid) any

resist acid. Ground is applied by either

areas that have achieved the designed

dissolving powdered resin in spirits,

tonality. These tones, combined with the

applying the powder directly to the

limited line elements, give aquatints a

surface of the plate, or by using a liquid

distinctive, watery look. Also, aquatints,

acrylic resist. In all forms of etching the

like mezzotints, provide ease in creating

acid resist is commonly referred to as

large areas of tone without laborious

“the ground.”

cross-hatching; but aquatint plates, it is

An aquatint box is used to apply resin

noted, are generally more durable than

powder. The powder is at the bottom of

mezzotint plates.

the box, a crank or a bellows is used to

The first etch should be for a short peri-

“ETCHINGS” EUPHEMISM

The phrase “Want to come up and

“I have a new collection of etchings

answers his wife asking him about

his room under the pretence that

see my etchings?” is a romantic

that I want to show you. Won’t you

a lady he had wandered off with by

they browse through his etchings

euphemism by which a person

name an evening when you will

saying: “She just wanted to show me

and engravings (e.g., Die Sünde by

entices someone to come back to

call, as I want to be certain to be at

some French etchings.”

Franz Stuck).

their place with an offer to look

home when you really do come.” The

The phrase was given new popular-

at something artistic, but with

boyfriend then writes back “I shall no

ity in 1937: in a well publicized case,

ulterior motives. The phrase is a

doubt find pleasure in examining the

violinist David Rubinoff was accused

corruption of some phrases in a

etchings which you hold out as an

of inviting a young woman to his

novel by Horatio Alger, Jr. called

inducement to call.”

hotel room to view some French

The Erie Train Boy, which was first

This was referenced in a 1929 James

etchings, but instead seducing her.

published in 1891. Alger was an

Thurber cartoon in which a man tells

As early as 1895, Hjalmar Sö-

immensely popular author in the

a woman in a building lobby: “You

derberg used the reference in his

19th century—especially with young

wait here and I’ll bring the etchings

“decadent” début novel Delusions

people—and his books were widely

down”. It was also referenced in

(swe: Förvillelser), when he lets the

quoted. In chapter XXII of the book,

Dashiell Hammett’s 1934 novel The

dandy Johannes Hall lure the main

a woman writes to her boyfriend,

Thin Man, in which the narrator

character’s younger sister Greta into

THERE IS NOT ART WITHOUT A POETIC AIM. THERE IS A SPECIES OF EMOTION PARTICULAR TO PAINTING. THERE IS AN EFFECT THAT RESULTS FROM A CERTAIN ARRANGEMENT OF COLORS, OF LIGHTS, OF SHADOWS. IT IS THIS THAT ONE CALLS THE MUSIC OF PAINTING 70

NOTHING IS IMPORTANT SAVE THE SPIRITUAL STATE THAT ENABLES ONE TO SUBJECTIFY ONE’S THOUGHTS TO A SENSATION AND TO THINK ONLY OF THE SENSATION, ALL THE WHILE SEARCHING TO EXPRESS IT. EDOUARD VUILLARD 71