Photogravure
The earliest forms of photogravure were developed by two original pioneers of photography itself, first Nicéphore Niépce in France in the 1820s, and Henry Fox Talbot in England. Niépce was seeking a means to create images on plates that could be etched and used to make prints on paper with a traditional printing press. Niépces early images were among the first photographs, pre-dating daguerreotypes, inventor of the calotype paper negative process, wanted to make paper prints that would not fade. He worked on his process in the 1850s and patented it in 1852 and 1858. Photogravure in its form was developed in 1878 by Czech painter Karel Klíč. This process, the one still in use today, is called the Talbot-Klič process, because of its high quality and richness, photogravure was used for both original fine art prints and for photo-reproduction of works from other media such as paintings. In France the correct term for photogravure is héliogravure, while the French term photogravure refers to any photo-based etching technique, Photogravure registers a wide variety of tones, through the transfer of etching ink from an etched copper plate to special dampened paper run through an etching press.
The unique tonal range comes from photogravures variable depth of etch, that is, Photogravure practitioners such as Peter Henry Emerson and others brought the art to a high standard in the late 19th century. This continued with the work of Alfred Stieglitz in the early 20th century and this publication featured the photogravures of Alvin Langdon Coburn who was a fine gravure printer and envisioned his photographic work as gravures rather than other photo-based processes. The speed and convenience of silver-gelatin photography eventually displaced photogravure which fell into disuse after the Edward S. Curtis gravures in the 1920s. One of the last major portfolios of fine art photogravures was Paul Strands Photographs from Mexico from 1940, many years later, photogravure has experienced a revival in the hands of Aperture and Jon Goodman, who studied it in Europe. Photogravure is now practiced in several dozen workshops around the world. Photogravure plates go through several stages, First, a continuous tone film positive is made from the original photographic negative. A smaller negative can be enlarged onto a sheet of film, the second stage is to sensitize a sheet of pigmented gelatin tissue by immersion into a 3. 5% solution of potassium dichromate for 3 minutes.
Once dried against a Plexiglas surface, it is ready for the next stage, the third stage is to expose the film positive to the sensitized gravure tissue. The positive is placed on top of the sheet of pigmented gelatin tissue. The sandwich is exposed to ultraviolet light, the UV light travels through the positive and screen in succession, each time hardening the gelatin in proportion to the degree of light exposed to it. The fourth stage is to adhere the exposed tissue to the copper plate, the gelatin tissue is adhered or laid down onto the highly polished copper plate under a layer of cool water
Max Klinger
Max Klinger was a German symbolist painter, sculptor and writer. Klinger was born in Leipzig and studied in Karlsruhe, an admirer of the etchings of Menzel and Goya, he shortly became a skilled and imaginative engraver in his own right. He began creating sculptures in the early 1880s, from 1883–1893 he lived in Rome, and became increasingly influenced by the Italian Renaissance and antiquity. His best known work is a series of ten etchings entitled Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove and these pictures were based on images which came to Klinger in dreams after finding a glove at an ice-skating rink. In the leitmotivic device of a glove—belonging to a woman whose face we never see—Klinger anticipated the research of Freud and Krafft-Ebing on fetish objects. Semioticians have seen in the symbol of the glove an example of a signifier, or signifier without signified—in this case. The plates suggest various psychological states or existential crises faced by the artist protagonist, Klinger traveled extensively around the art centres of Europe for years before returning to Leipzig in 1893.
From 1897 he mostly concentrated on sculpture, his statue of Beethoven was an integral part of the Vienna Secession exhibit of 1902. Klinger was cited by many artists as being a link between the symbolist movement of the 19th century and the start of the metaphysical and Surrealist movements of the 20th century. Asteroid 22369 Klinger is named in his honor, in Elsa Bernsteins naturalist play Dämmerung, Klinger is mentioned in the third act when Carl talks of being able to afford etchings by Klinger for 80 francs. Inspection Medical Hermeneutics, an infamous Moscow art collective, based their 1991 installation Klinger’s Boxes, on an idea inspired by Klinger’s Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove. Plate 1 of Paraphrase on the Finding of a Glove – all ten plates can be viewed in order www. max-klinger. com Max Klingers Beethoven Monument This Kiss to the Whole World Klimt, Klinger Vienna Secession exhibition catalog, Short bio, Beethoven Statue
Aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching. In intaglio printmaking, the artist makes marks on the plate that are capable of holding ink, the inked plate is passed through a printing press together with a sheet of paper, resulting in a transfer of the ink to the paper. This can be repeated a number of times, depending on the particular technique, like etching, aquatint uses the application of a mordant to etch into the metal plate. Where the engraving uses a needle to make lines that print in black. The rosin is acid resistant and typically adhered to the plate by controlled heating, the tonal variation is controlled by the level of mordant exposure over large areas, and thus the image is shaped by large sections at a time. Another tonal technique, begins with a surface that is evenly indented so that it will carry a fairly dark tone of ink. The mezzotint plate is smoothed and polished to make areas carry less ink, beginning with a smooth plate, areas are roughened to make them darker.
Occasionally these two techniques are combined, the painter and printmaker Jan van de Velde IV invented the aquatint technique in Amsterdam, around 1650. The cartographer Peter Perez Burdett introduced his secret aquatint technique to England in the 1770s, an aquatint requires a metal plate, an acid, and something to resist the acid. Traditionally copper or zinc plates were used, the artist applies a ground that will resist acid. Ground is applied by either dissolving powdered resin in spirits, applying the powder directly to the surface of the plate, in all forms of etching the acid resist is commonly referred to as the ground. An aquatint box is used to apply resin powder, the powder is at the bottom of the box, a crank or a bellows is used to blow the powder up into the air of the box. A window allows the engraver to see the density of flowing powder, when the powder covers the plate, it can be extracted from the box for the next operations. The plate is heated, if the plate is covered with powder, the resin melts forming a fine and even coat, if it is in spirits, the spirits evaporate and the result is essentially the same.
Now the plate is dipped in acid, producing an even, at this point, the plate is said to carry about a 50% halftone. This means that, were the plate printed with no further biting, at some point the artist will etch an outline of any aspects of the drawing s/he wishes to establish with line, this provides the basis and guide for the tone work. S/he may have applied an acid-resistant stop out if s/he intends to keep any areas totally white and free of ink, the artist begins immersing the plate in the acid bath, progressively stopping out any areas that have achieved the designed tonality. These tones, combined with the limited line elements, give aquatints a distinctive, aquatints, like mezzotints, provide ease in creating large areas of tone without laborious cross-hatching, but aquatint plates, it is noted, are generally more durable than mezzotint plates
Niello
Niello is a black mixture of copper and lead sulphides, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal. The resulting design, called a niello, was of much higher contrast, during the 10th to 13th century AD, Kievan Rus craftsmen possessed a high degree of skill in jewelry making. John Tsetses, a 12th-century Byzantine writer, praised the work of Kievan Rus artisans and likened their work to the creations of Daedalus, the Kievan Rus technique for niello application was first shaping silver or gold by repoussé work and casting. The heat of the furnace would blacken the niello and make the other stand out more vividly. During the Mongol invasion from 1237 to 1240 AD, nearly all of Kievan Rus was overrun and workshops were burned and razed and most of the craftsmen and artisans were killed. Afterwards, skill in niello and cloisonné enamel diminished greatly, the Ukrainian Museum of Historic Treasures, located in Kiev, has a large collection of nielloed items mostly recovered from tombs found throughout Ukraine.
Nielloware jewelry and related items from Thailand were popular gifts from American soldiers taking R&R in Thailand to their girlfriends/wives back home from the 1930s to the 1970s, most of it was completely handmade jewelry. The technique is as follows, The artisan would carve a particular character or pattern into the silver and he would use the niello inlay to fill in the background. After being baked in a fire, the alloy would harden. It would be sanded smooth and buffed, finally, a silver artisan would add minute details by hand. Filigree was often used for additional ornamentation, Nielloware is classified as only being black and silver colored. Other colored jewelry originating during this time uses a different technique and is not considered niello, many of the characters shown in nielloware are characters originally found in the Hindu legend Ramayana. The Thai version is called Ramakien, important Thai cultural symbols were frequently used. Collecting Thai jewelry is a hobby with many jewelry enthusiasts.
The Kiev museum of historic treasures, overview of Siam Sterling Nielloware, Tampa, FL Dittell, C. Survey of Siam Sterling Nielloware, Bookbaby Publishers Maryon, untracht, Oppi Metal techniques For Craftsmen, New York 1968. The Siam Sterling Nielloware Site Nielloware in Thailand Niello information site
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest examples include Cylinder seals and other such as the Cyrus Cylinder. The earliest known form of printing came from China dating to before 220 A. D. Later developments in printing include the type, first developed by Bi Sheng in China around 1040 AD. Johannes Gutenberg introduced mechanical movable type printing to Europe in the 15th century, modern large-scale printing is typically done using a printing press, while small-scale printing is done free-form with a digital printer. Though paper is the most common material, it is frequently done on metals, cloth. On paper it is carried out as a large-scale industrial process and is an essential part of publishing. Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns that was used widely throughout East Asia and it originated in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and on paper. As a method of printing on cloth, the earliest surviving examples from China date to before 220 A.
D, the earliest surviving woodblock printed fragments are from China. They are of silk printed with flowers in three colours from the Han Dynasty and they are the earliest example of woodblock printing on paper appeared in the mid-seventh century in China. By the ninth century, printing on paper had taken off, by the tenth century,400,000 copies of some sutras and pictures were printed, and the Confucian classics were in print. A skilled printer could print up to 2,000 double-page sheets per day, Printing spread early to Korea and Japan, which used Chinese logograms, but the technique was used in Turpan and Vietnam using a number of other scripts. This technique spread to Persia and Russia and this technique was transmitted to Europe via the Islamic world, and by around 1400 was being used on paper for old master prints and playing cards. However, Arabs never used this to print the Quran because of the limits imposed by Islamic doctrine, block printing, called tarsh in Arabic developed in Arabic Egypt during the ninth-tenth centuries, mostly for prayers and amulets.
There is some evidence to suggest that these print blocks made from non-wood materials, possibly tin, the techniques employed are uncertain and they appear to have had very little influence outside of the Muslim world. Though Europe adopted woodblock printing from the Muslim world, initially for fabric, block printing went out of use in Islamic Central Asia after movable type printing was introduced from China. Block printing first came to Europe as a method for printing on cloth, images printed on cloth for religious purposes could be quite large and elaborate. When paper became relatively easily available, around 1400, the medium transferred very quickly to small religious images
Offset printing
Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, to the printing surface. The modern web process feeds a large reel of paper through a press machine in several parts, typically for several metres. Development of the press came in two versions, in 1875 by Robert Barclay of England for printing on tin, and in 1904 by Ira Washington Rubel of the United States for printing on paper. Lithography was initially created to be a method of reproducing artwork. This printing process was limited to use on flat, porous surfaces because the plates were produced from limestone. In fact, the word lithograph historically means an image from stone or printed from stone, tin cans were popular packaging materials in the 19th century, but transfer technologies were required before the lithographic process could be used to print on the tin. The first rotary offset lithographic printing press was created in England and this development combined mid-19th century transfer printing technologies and Richard March Hoes 1843 rotary printing press—a press that used a metal cylinder instead of a flat stone.
The offset cylinder was covered with specially treated cardboard that transferred the image from the stone to the surface of the metal. Later, the covering of the offset cylinder was changed to rubber. As the 19th century closed and photography became popular, many lithographic firms went out of business, photoengraving, a process that used halftone technology instead of illustration, became the primary aesthetic of the era. Many printers, including Ira Washington Rubel of New Jersey, were using the low-cost lithograph process to produce copies of photographs, Rubel discovered in 1901—by forgetting to load a sheet—that when printing from the rubber roller, instead of the metal, the printed page was clearer and sharper. After further refinement, the Potter Press printing Company in New York produced a press in 1903, by 1907 the Rubel offset press was in use in San Francisco. The Harris Automatic Press Company created a similar press around the same time and Albert Harris modeled their press on a rotary letter press machine.
One of the most important functions in the process is prepress production. This stage makes sure that all files are processed in preparation for printing. This includes converting to the proper CMYK color model, finalizing the files, Offset lithography is one of the most common ways of creating printed materials. A few of its common applications include, magazines, stationery, compared to other printing methods, offset printing is best suited for economically producing large volumes of high quality prints in a manner that requires little maintenance. Many modern offset presses use computer-to-plate systems as opposed to the older computer-to-film work flows, advantages of offset printing compared to other printing methods include, consistent high image quality
Goldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Goldsmiths must be skilled in forming metal through filing, sawing, casting, the trade has very often included jewellery-making skills, as well as the very similar skills of the silversmith. Many universities and junior colleges offer goldsmithing, compared to other metals, gold is malleable, rare, and it is the only solid metallic element with a yellow color. It may easily be melted and cast without the problems of oxides and gas that are problematic with other such as bronzes. It is fairly easy to weld, wherein similarly to clay two small pieces may be pounded together to make one larger piece. Gold is classified as a noble metal—because it does not react with most elements and it usually is found in its native form, lasting indefinitely without oxidization and tarnishing. Gold has been worked by humans in all cultures where the metal is available, either indigenously or imported, and the history of these activities is extensive.
Superbly made objects from the ancient cultures of Africa, Europe, North America, some pieces date back thousands of years and were made using many techniques that still are used by modern goldsmiths. Techniques developed by some of those goldsmiths achieved a level that was lost and remained beyond the skills of those who followed. In medieval Europe goldsmiths were organized into guilds and usually were one of the most important, the guild kept records of members and the marks they used on their products. These records, when they survive, are useful to historians. Goldsmiths often acted as bankers, since they dealt in gold and had sufficient security for the storage of valuable items. The Sunar caste is one of the oldest communities in goldsmithing in India, in India, Vishwakarma are the goldsmith caste. The printmaking technique of engraving developed among goldsmiths in Germany around 1430, the notable engravers of the fifteenth century were either goldsmiths, such as Master E. S. or the sons of goldsmiths, such as Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer. A goldsmith might have an array of skills and knowledge at their disposal.
Gold, being the most malleable metal of all, offers opportunities for the worker. In todays world a variety of other metals, especially platinum alloys. 24 Carat is pure gold and historically, was known as fine gold, because it is so soft, however,24 Carat gold is rarely used
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his career was a commentator. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is often referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns and he was one of the great portraitists of modern times. He was born to a modest family in 1746 in the village of Fuendetodos in Aragon and he studied painting from age 14 under José Luzán y Martinez and moved to Madrid to study with Anton Raphael Mengs. He married Josefa Bayeu in 1773, the couples life together was characterised by an almost constant series of pregnancies and miscarriages, Goya was a guarded man and although letters and writings survive, little is known about his thoughts. He suffered a severe and undiagnosed illness in 1793 which left him completely deaf, after 1793 his work became progressively darker and more pessimistic. His easel and mural paintings and drawings appear to reflect a bleak outlook on personal and political levels and he was appointed Director of the Royal Academy in 1795, the year Manuel Godoy made an unfavorable treaty with France.
In 1799 Goya became Primer Pintor de Cámara, the then-highest rank for a Spanish court painter, in the late 1790s, commissioned by Godoy, he completed his La maja desnuda, a remarkably daring nude for the time and clearly indebted to Diego Velázquez. In 1801 he painted Charles IV of Spain and His Family, in 1807 Napoleon led the French army into Spain. Goya remained in Madrid during the Peninsular War, which seems to have affected him deeply. Although he did not vocalise his thoughts in public, they can be inferred from his Disasters of War series of prints and his 1814 paintings The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808. Goya eventually abandoned Spain in 1824 to retire to the French city of Bordeaux, accompanied by his much younger maid and companion, Leocadia Weiss, there he completed his La Tauromaquia series and a number of other, canvases. Following a stroke left him paralyzed on his right side. His body was re-interred in Spain, Francisco Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Aragón, Spain, on 30 March 1746 to José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador.
The family had moved that year from the city of Zaragoza, José was the son of a notary and of Basque origin, his ancestors being from Zerain, earning his living as a gilder, specialising in religious and decorative craftwork. He oversaw the gilding and most of the ornamentation during the rebuilding of the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, Francisco was their fourth child, following his sister Rita, brother Tomás and second sister Jacinta. There were two sons and Camilo. His mothers family had pretensions of nobility and the house, a modest brick cottage, was owned by her family and, perhaps fancifully, about 1749 José and Gracia bought a home in Zaragoza and were able to return to live in the city
Banknotes of the Hungarian forint
Hungarian forint paper money is part of the physical form of the current Hungarian currency, the Hungarian forint. The forint paper money consists exclusively of banknotes, during its history, denominations ranging from 10 to 20,000 forint were put into circulation in correspondence with the inflation which raised needs for higher denominations. Recently, commemorative banknotes were issued as well, in 1946, the first series of forint banknotes were put into circulation with the denominations of 10 Ft and 100 Ft. As a consequence of their quality, many counterfeit appeared in a short time. From 1947, a series of banknotes were designed and put into circulation. These banknotes were printed until 1996 with different coat of arms, between 1997 and 2001, a new series of banknotes were issued with improved security features. The notes share the size of 154 ×70 mm. The banknotes are printed by the Hungarian Banknote Printing Corp. in Budapest on the manufactured by the Diósgyőr Papermill in Miskolc.
The Hungarian National Bank has announced the withdrawal of the 1000 forint notes issued prior to 2006 and this affects the 1000 forint note from the current series, but without the red metallic strip on the obverse side, i. e. the Millennium issue. These notes remained in circulation until August 31,2007, after this period, the note may be refused for payment. However, commercial banks may exchange these notes thereafter, the Hungarian National Bank will continue to exchange these notes for twenty years, until August 31,2027. The 200 forint notes were replaced with a new 200 forint coin in 2009
Master of the Housebook
Master of the Housebook and Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet are two names used for an engraver and painter working in South Germany in the last quarter of the 15th century. He is apparently the first artist to use drypoint, a form of engraving, in 1999, the book was lent to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. for an exhibition. The majority of his prints are in the print room at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Most, but not all, art historians agree that the Housebook. His ninety-one prints are rare, with sixty surviving in one impression only. Many engravings by artists are believed to be copies of missing works by this master. In particular, Israhel van Meckenem seems to have copied more than thirty and his work is very well drawn and lively, with the interest in detail typical of Early Netherlandish painting. Arthur Mayger Hind notes of his style that he is an artist with a freedom of draughtsmanship quite remarkable at this epoch, if his manner of engraving has something of the irregularity of an amateur, his power of expression is vigorous and masterly.
A high proportion depicts secular subjects, more than is typical with artists of the period, along with his contemporary Martin Schongauer, the Housebook Master was the leading artist making old master prints in Germany in his period. Both Schongauer and the Housebook Master had a influence on the prints of Albrecht Dürer. The Master suggests Netherlandish influence in the modelling of light and shade, many scholars feel the Gotha Lovers and the Speyer Altarpiece cannot be by the same artist, and favour attributing only the Lovers to the Housebook Master. Others disagree, and attribute the engravings and the altarpiece to the same master, Reuwich printed the account in Latin of the trip, the Sanctae Peregrinationes by Bernhard von Breydenbach of 1486, in which the woodcut was the first ever fold-out plate. The design was adapted by Michael Wolgemut for the Nuremberg Chronicle. Reuwich was taken as an artist in the entourage of Breydenbach, the book contained panoramas of six other cities, including Jerusalem, studies of Near Eastern costume, and an exotic alphabet - the first in print.
It was a bestseller, reprinted thirteen times over the three decades, including editions printed in France and Spain, for which the illustration blocks were shipped out to the local printers. In 1485 Reuwich drew some plants for the woodcuts in a herbal published in Mainz. His identification with the Housebook Master has not been accepted, though A. Hyatt Mayor supported it. The trend of opinion has moved against the identification in more recent works
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each print produced is not considered a copy but rather is considered an original, a print may be known as an impression. Printmaking is not chosen only for its ability to multiple impressions. Prints are created by transferring ink from a matrix or through a screen to a sheet of paper or other material. Screens made of silk or synthetic fabrics are used for the screenprinting process, other types of matrix substrates and related processes are discussed below. Multiple impressions printed from the matrix form an edition. Prints may be printed in book form, such as illustrated books or artists books, Printmaking techniques are generally divided into the following basic categories, where ink is applied to the original surface of the matrix.
Relief techniques include woodcut or woodblock as the Asian forms are known, wood engraving. Intaglio, where ink is applied beneath the surface of the matrix. Intaglio techniques include engraving, mezzotint, planographic, where the matrix retains its original surface, but is specially prepared and/or inked to allow for the transfer of the image. Planographic techniques include lithography and digital techniques, where ink or paint is pressed through a prepared screen, including screenprinting and pochoir. Other types of printmaking techniques outside these groups include collagraphy and viscosity printing, collagraphy is a printmaking technique in which textured material is adhered to the printing matrix. This texture is transferred to the paper during the printing process, Contemporary printmaking may include digital printing, photographic mediums, or a combination of digital and traditional processes. Many of these techniques can be combined, especially within the same family, for example, Rembrandts prints are usually referred to as etchings for convenience, but very often include work in engraving and drypoint as well, and sometimes have no etching at all.
Woodcut, a type of print, is the earliest printmaking technique. It was probably first developed as a means of printing patterns on cloth, woodcuts of images on paper developed around 1400 in Japan, and slightly in Europe. These are the two areas where woodcut has been most extensively used purely as a process for making images without text, the artist draws a design on a plank of wood, or on paper which is transferred to the wood
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