Printmaking: Eastern And Western Hemispheres

1. Discuss the origins of printmaking in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Printmaking originated in China after paper was invented around AD 105. Relief printing appeared in Europe in the 15th Century, when the process of papermaking was imported from the East. The most common form, and the earliest is woodcut.

2. Discuss the origins of papermaking.

Papermaking was invented in 105 A.D. in China. This invention was reported to the Eastern Han Emperor Ho-di by Ts'ai Lun, an official of the Imperial Court. They used and broke the bark of a mulberry tree into fibers mixed with water and then pounded them into a sheet. Later on, they strained the pulp to get a smoother finish. After this discovery, the paper was then used for writing.

3. Discuss

This impacted society because the use of written language became more accessible. Books became more accessible, and affordable as well. After this, the invention of the printing press was developed in 1440.

4. Discuss the history of relief printing.

A relief print is used when an image is printed from a raised portion of a carved, etched or a cast block. It’s called relief because the lines and surfaces the ink sticks to are higher than the parts that are not printed. The most common type of a relief print is wood cut. Woodcut is also the oldest method of printmaking, when first developed in China in the 9th century. Then it first appeared in Europe in the 15th century when the technique of papermaking was brought over from the East.

5. Discuss the history of intaglio printing.

Most early intaglio prints were book illustrations and religious images. It first appeared in Europe in the late 1430’s. From the Italian meaning to carve or cut into, an intaglio print involves cutting into or incising an image into metal place with tools and/or acids. The two basic types of intaglio printing are engraving and etching. Engraving an image is used with needles, scrapers, or rockers. An etched image is used with

The first camera to be invented was the camera obscura. The term comes from Latin, camera meaning "dark room,” or “chamber or room," and obscura "darkened, dark"), also referred to as pinhole image.

9. Discuss the renaissance of fine art printing and publishing in the 20th century.

Since the invention of photography in the 1800’s, it had a great impact on the development of art. The most influenced was printmaking, especially with photo silkscreen, which made printing with photographs more common. The 20th century is also known for the experimental direction art was heading towards. More of a variety of art was established, such as cubism, feminism, expressionism, etc. Such artists like Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Georges Rouault, Wassily Kandinsky etc. all have used printmaking as a medium within their careers.

10. Discuss William Ivins- who as he and what text did he write?

William Ivins was born in 1881, who was an overseer for prints located at the Metropolitan Museum in 1916. He wrote the book, Prints and Visual Communication in 1953. It’s a novel about the history of printmaking broken down into centuries, which focus on the importance of each one, also mentioning the advancements founded within as