2012 For Print Quarterly (ISSN 0265-8305, ISI 06796J0): 29/3 (2012): 343-346 (original) (raw)
Related papers
Are paintings reproduced because they are famous, or have they become famous because they have been reproduced over and over again in the past centuries? The aim of this conference is to throw light on the status of reproductive prints in the process of the formation of (an) artistic canon(s). It aims at exploring artistic and technical aspects of the creative and innovative making process, including the printmakers' ability to translate the original work into a new pictorial language and to the history of both reception and transmission of works of art. The conference will cover the period running from the early 16th century to the introduction of the first lithographic press in the early 19th century. Geographically, the focus is on Europe. No restrictions are imposed concerning printing techniques – on the contrary, the characteristics of each technique as well as its ability and uses for reproducing original paintings constitute an important topic. We invite submissions of papers drawing from current research on specific prints or series of prints as well as on new theoretical approaches and methodologically promising developments in the study of interpretative prints, also exploring their potential as a source and as a subject matter of art history.
Traditionally, the history of printmaking has fallen in the space between art history and the history of the book. Often ‘reproductive’ and multiple in nature, prints have long been marginalized in art historical scholarship in favour of the traditional ‘high’ arts. The inherent complexities in the manufacture and sale of print, often involving multi-faceted networks of specialist craftsmen, artists, publishers and sellers, has also led to much confusion. Not knowing how prints are made has affected our ability to understand the medium and its aesthetic qualities. However, recent scholarship has opened up new avenues for placing prints in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe. From the techniques applied in the making of prints to the individuals involved in their production, distribution and use, current research is continuing to shape our understanding of this complex field. This two-day conference, in collaboration with Print Quarterly, aims to showcase new developments in the study of prints, challenging and developing traditional approaches. It is organized around a series of panels dedicated to different themes and is accompanied by a pop-up display in the Courtauld's Prints and Drawings Study Room: 'Courtauld Prints: The Making of a Collection'.
Positioning the Original Print: Politics of Printmaking, 1870-1900
In my Mphil thesis "Positioning the ‘Original Print’: Politics of Printmaking in France, 1870-1900", I analyzed the status of the print in France, with a special interest in the different definitions and functions of the original print. With the contradictions original vs. reproductive, high vs. low, craft vs. industry and autonomy vs. propaganda, I focused amongst others on the context of the decorative arts, the changes in the art market and the official Salon, the development of print techniques and politics in France.
Emergence of Print Culture and its Impact on Art
IAR Consortium, 2021
The meeting ground of art which is almost as old as the humanity and print culture, which culture which literally transformed everything for the modern world is one most intriguing relationships ever. It led to many controversies when certain artistic expressions gained the stamp of authenticity primarily on account of their reach to the wider academic elite aided by the print media. It nearly ushered in turbulent phase in the history of art, as print culture began to move from the marginal spaces to the central platforms of academic validation. Reliance on print media became indispensable to the artists in the emerging scenario giving rise to many deeper concerns regarding the age old concerns of art. T his paper is a. detailed analysis of the complexities of this historical connection
Print, making and the work of art alone
2016
This paper will consider the relationship of print to the transmission of ideas through the multiple. This will include the changing role of the print studio and how artists are increasingly viewing print as an opportunity to produce work, which is distinct and resolved within the medium of print. I want to look at the changing role of print, not only for the way it can be the meeting place for technologies, but also for its position as a place of cross over between commercial and the aesthetic worlds. Furthermore, how artists are increasingly viewing print as an opportunity to produce work, which is both distinct and resolved within the medium of print. The history of printmaking covers a broad range of concerns, from those artists who have sought expression through the particular nature of the medium as well as those for whom print's capacity to produce multiple images has been paramount. Of course print has always engaged a wide audience; that audience early on would have included those for whom the written word was out of their sphere, either through illiteracy or class. In medieval times, the small woodcut, cheaply printed and often sold at fairs would function not only as a souvenir but as means to understand the feeling of, for example, the gospels or connect with the potency of a particular saint with the print functioning as devotional object. Increasingly, it was through print that not only aesthetic ideas became currency, but also cartographical, philosophical, anatomical, medical etc. all translated through the skills of printmakers into images that could be reproduced and distributed. Printmaking has always had this mixed history. It has both its own fine art history, articulated by the mantra of key figures such as Durer, Rembrandt, Goya, Degas, Picasso, and Warhol etc. and with their association with particular technical innovations, etching, aquatint, lithography, silkscreen, describe a different set
For many blue chip artists, the master printer has been essential to the realization of highly creative, innovative, museum quality prints. Besides offering bespoke printing services, one of the many concerns of the master printer-especially in the latter half of the 20th century-was to translate the artists creative intentions into print through fully preservable materials. A further offshoot of this work also, (in many cases) necessitated the actual documentation of the artists working approach and procedures in note form and progressive proofs to provide a unique insight into the creative process. This paper outlines some of the previous parameters and achievements in the field, looking at some of the worlds most prestigious print ateliers and examining the work produced for major artists under these terms. The paper will then investigate how the precedents of the master printer/atelier system have transferred into the field of digital printing for fine artists at the onset of the 21 st century. By giving an overview of the specialised print work produced by the University of the West of England Centre for Fine Print Research digital printing facility and a selection of other British Digital Printing Studios, the presentation will provide an overview of some of the advantages offered by the transfer of the master printer system to the digital arena, arguing the case for the production of prints aiming to maintain and transcend the high standards of individuality and permanence previously set by 20 th century analogue print practice.
It is a well-known and established fact that the origins of early print making bare a close relationship with goldsmith workshops, with Albrecht Dürer as the most celebrated representative of this development. Surprisingly, the printed output of these early engravers for goldsmith- and architectural design is a field which gained little attention by print scholars so far. This paper examines the professional position and production of this particular new genre of ornament prints from goldsmith-engravers in the Low Countries such as the architect Alart DuHameel (c. 1460 – c. 1506) or the anonymous Master W with the Key (active c. 1465-85). A major part of these engravers’ output consisted of designs for metalwork such as reliquaries, censors, chalices or crosiers. By providing designs for a wide range of craftsmen - ranging from architects, over wood carvers to goldsmiths – this group of goldsmith-engravers can be interpreted as intermediate players in the dissemination of geometrical designing knowledge to a great variety of media. This paper addresses issues such as the dissemination of design skills, the practical and aesthetic function of design prints, the interdisciplinary crossovers between craftsmen by printed media, and the self-representation of the artist by the use of house marks and monograms.
The Eighteenth-Century Print: Tracing the Contours of a Field
This essay examines new developments and trends in the study of eighteenth-century prints, with a particular focus on reproductive engraving, book illustration, fine art etching, and caricature. Recent studies demonstrate an increasingly theoretical engagement with the production and reception of prints and assert the centrality of prints and printmaking to the field of art history. Digital scanning and database technology have dramatically expanded scholarly access to the printed page, posing both opportunities and challenges to the conceptualization of the Enlightenment print.