New Approaches to Printmaking

This article will discuss how are artists changing their approaches to printmaking and, more specifically, focusing on printmaking as a contemporary art form.

As any art historian or art history minor knows, 19th century artists such as Josef Albers, Kandinsky and Ad Reinhardt used graphics as their main medium.

Their simple, two-color, imagery and graphic line with a third color, which were integral to their practice, would play a major role in spreading modern art to the masses.

This early transition from painting to printmaking also impacted the art world as a whole, a development that can be traced to the height of post World War I.

The movement created by the artists was a large influence on artists in the 20th century, and continues to this day.

In a similar fashion, artists today are gravitating away from the traditional two-dimensional approach of painting and incorporating the kinetic and space exploration associated with contemporary, technological forms of art.

In more recent years, the term “fine art printmaking” has been adopted to refer to an increasing number of artists that create works that make an imprint on a viewers’ consciousness. These artists use both traditional and modern methods to create print formats of varying designs, sizes and colour palettes.

Although traditional methods are still used, artists are using various forms of technology to produce their works. Printmaking is evolving into a more recent concept of visual art where a lot of great artist’s works can be influenced and effected by the technology available to them.

The increased use of technology and the art of printmaking is becoming more and more common. In the beginning of the 20th century, printmaking was a part of the traditional art movement.

Artists who embraced this form of printmaking were recognisable as part of the movement called Impressionism, after the French painter Claude Monet. Monet was one of the most influential artist of the Impressionist movement and is considered the father of modern impressionism.

Impressionism is an expression of how a person sees the world around them through their lens; and how their impressions affect their perception of the world. Although the Impressionist movement was centred in France, the movement spread like wildfire all over the world.

Many famous artists and members of the Impressionist movement made use of etching and colour field printing techniques to produce works of art that became famous throughout the world.

By the end of the 20th century, most of the mediums used in the making of print media, were no longer being used. This led to the reintroduction of printing as a skill and the re-discovery of the mediums that were around until the 20th century, such as engraving and aquatint.

Instead of traditional printing processes, the use of various mediums like etching and relief printing were employed in the creation of artwork. Artwork was made by recording the artist’s likeness on the materials used in the creation of prints, which were then exposed to the light or matted together and printed onto paper or canvas.

One medium that was used in the more traditional mediums of printmaking was lithography. Lithography is where a stylus or stylus is used to emboss the image on a lithographic stone and these prints are then used to create prints.

One of the most revolutionary and modern techniques to ever come to use was the Cibachrome. Cibachrome was the first photographic process to provide multiple prints on each sheet of paper.

This was a common process used in the making of Eastman Kodak photographic prints. A typical Cibachrome print was a collage of still pictures that was shot on a Cibachrome roll. An Eastman Kodak camera was attached to a tripod, with the roll of film and exposed in front of the camera’s view finder.

After developing the film, the next step was to view the images on a screen or viewing card. Once the image on the viewing card was selected, a file was transferred to the film for mounting on paper.

In order to make a print, two files were placed on each sheet of paper, from both the Cibachrome film and the print sheet. The Cibachrome film was a medium that was developed by exposing it to iodine vapour and then displaying the developed films on a screen or viewing card.

The Cibachrome rolls were a medium that was introduced to the mainstream by Alfred Stieglitz, and is arguably the most influential photography medium that ever came to use.

Cibachrome was introduced in 1903, just after the introduction of the Kodak camera. In 1905, Eadweard Muybridge created the first single frame rotary camera and Kodak had finally established their relationship with the first single frame rotary camera, by purchasing the patents on that camera.

A year later, Eastman Kodak produced the first single frame rotary camera which also incorporated a Cibachrome roll. Stieglitz was among the first to be given the right to display the images on a viewing card and for many of his photographic exhibitions, he held Cibachrome projections for his audience to see.

Since then, it has remained the gold standard in photographic printing, and because of the chemical nature of the processes involved, Cibachrome rolls are preserved in both .B and .A versions.

A pioneering figure in the process of photography, Robert Frank mastered and was the first to create the use of Cibachrome prints for his photography, and developed a practical method of printing this technique in the 1950’s, by printing the images on Polaroid camera’s.

There are many digital print services that exist today, and with the advancements of digital printing, the process of developing Cibachrome roll has become virtually obsolete. Digital images remain on paper and the development of this technique has been severely limited by the changing processes used in digital development.

This is a digital print that was created on digital film and will be printed digitally as a semi-permanent memory of this phenomenon.