Printmaking: History and Process

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding introduction.......2006-08-11

If you're going to have just one book on the wide world of printmaking, make it this one. Despite its heft, over 400 pages in large format, it almost comes across as rushed. I don't mean sloppily done, quite the opposite, but with just so much to say that the pages can barely hold it all.

Saff and Sacilotto start with relief techniques, the processes that are easiest to intuit and that have the longest histories. This isn't just a history book, though, it includes modern materials and techniques, all in enough detail for a beginner to get going on. The next section, on the many kinds of intaglio printing, is equally thorough. It covers the whole range of ways that people can create images on printing plates. That includes familiar etching, engraving, and drypoint techniques, but also lift, aquatint, mezzotint, mixed technique, and more. The discussion covers every step, from preparing a plate to take the ground on through to printing the edition and cancelling the plate.

The section on litho, though, is where this really comes into its own. It's an exhaustive discussion of everything about the process, from the chemistry of stone or metal, to creating multiple lithographic stones in good registration, to surfacing the stone, to drying the finished prints. And, unlike many other discussions of printmaking, these authors never shy from photographic techniques and technological support. I really appreciate the fact that they see the artistic potential in everything, not just some purist list of historical techniques. The last section on printmaking covers serigraphy, and does just as complete a job as the other sections did. Final chapters cover papermaking, blind impressions, framing, and curatorial care.

There's not a lot to object to here. The authors often recommend formaldehyde as a preservative, something that only the best-equipped shops would attempt to handle today. Likewise some of the more aggressive etchants - HF is so hazardous that its use seems hard to justify for most purposes. Well, in the nearly 30 years since this was written, attitudes toward work place hazards have changed a lot. On the positive side, though, it's illustrated with 675 black and white figures and forty color plates, another reason this book seems so dense. There's more information per page in this book than in any other I can think of, and far more pages than in most other books. It has my highest recommendation.

//wiredweird

Printmaking: A History and Process.......2000-06-22

Excellent!Printmaking along with The Complete Printmaker and The Tamarind Book of Lithography are the shop manuals for Parsons School of Design and New School University Printmaking Studio.

A must have for printmakers.......2000-04-26

This book is an absolute must-have for printmakers, professionals as well as amatuers and students. I'm an art student whose focus is in printmaking and this book was strongly recommended to me by my professor. It is an encyclopedia of information on printmaking, including not only the "how-to" but the history and development as well.

Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts: A Selection of 19O Sixteenth-Century Woodcuts from Gesner's and Topsell's Natural Histories (Dover Pictorial Archives)

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Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts
Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts

Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts: A Selection of 19O Sixteenth-Century Woodcuts from Gesner's and Topsell's Natural Histories (Dover Pictorial Archives)

Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486227014

Customer Reviews:

Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts.......2000-07-17

I may never scan the images in this book (too many small lines), but I'm still glad I bought it. The pictures are facinating! I can't decide wether it's more fun to look at the fantastic representations of familiar animals or the crazy combinations of those familiar animals. Also part of the fun is that the source of each woodcut is indicated on its page. Definitely worth the price in entertainment value alone!

Curious Woodcuts of Fanciful and Real Beasts.......2000-07-17

I may never scan the images in this book (too many small lines), but it was worth the price anyway! The pictures are facinating! I can't decise wether it's more fun to look at the fantastic representation of a familiar animal or the crazy combinations of familiar animals. Also part of the fun is that the source of each woodcut is indicated on its page. Definitely worth the price in entertainment value alone!

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Currier & Ives: America Imagined
Bryan F. Le Beau
Manufacturer: Smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1560989904

Book Description

Nathaniel Currier and his partner, James Ives, literally changed the American landscape by mass-producing inexpensive lithographs and selling millions of copies that adorned countless homes, businesses, and even barns. Bryan F. Lebeau provides the first in-depth study of the sweeping range of Currier and Ives images produced until the end of the nineteenth-century, placing them in historical context as meaningful representations and reflections of American values, beliefs, hopes and dreams.

Thomas Moran's West: Chromolithography, High Art, And Popular Taste

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Thomas Moran's West: Chromolithography, High Art, And Popular Taste
Joni L. Kinsey , and Thomas Moran
Manufacturer: University Press of Kansas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0700614133

Book Description

Watercolor images of Yellowstone Park painted in the early 1870s by artist Thomas Moran shifted America's gaze westward. Published as a portfolio of chromolithographs by Boston lithographer Louis Prang, these brilliant reproductions--with a companion text on Yellowstone geology by explorer Ferdinand Hayden--were the first color images of our first national park widely available to the general public. As such, they helped shape America's growing fascination with the West.

The Yellowstone National Park portfolio, comprising nine images of Yellowstone and six of other sites, is also now regarded as the finest example of chromolithography ever produced. Yet today these images are less well known than Moran's dramatic oil paintings and are usually admired merely as curiosities of an obsolete technology.

Joni Kinsey, a preeminent authority on Moran, shows that these and other chromolithographs by the artist in fact had an important place in American visual culture and were a vital part of the artist's career. Thomas Moran's West reproduces this renowned collection, along with two dozen other color plates and over 100 black-and-white illustrations, to recapture their impact on the American imagination.

Chromolithography was outmoded by 1900 but represented an important transition in American art. Whereas previously published images of the West had been black-and-white engravings, Moran's chromolithographs had the vivid beauty of high art but could be acquired by individuals who couldn't afford originals. Today the prints are highly valued by collectors, who will appreciate seeing them with related field sketches and watercolors--and in some instances rare printer's proofs from Joslyn Art Museum. Kinsey describes the making and popularity of "chromos," chronicles the debates over their artistic legitimacy, and tells how this medium competed with other forms of picture-making in the late nineteenth century. She also explores Moran's relationship with Prang and thoroughly analyzes the Yellowstone images--including those held back from publication.

Both a visual feast and an authoritative treatise, Thomas Moran's West gives us breath-taking images of unspoiled wilderness as it sheds new light on how artistic portrayals of the West contributed to our national identity.

Book Description

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) holds an assured place in the history of art as one of the greatest masters of the wood-block print. This volume offers an excellent overview of the accomplished artist who, together with Hokusai, was the leading creator of landscape imagery in Japanese printmaking.

If Hokusai is recognized for his bold compositions and clearly defined forms, Hiroshige is the master of the passing moment - the artist of mist, snow, and rain. The immense popularity of Hiroshige's prints meant that they were continually reprinted, wearing down the woodblocks. For this book, every effort has been made to reproduce only the finest early impressions. Each plate is provided with a commentary by Matthi Forrer who, in an introductory essay, examines Hiroshige's life and work, assessing his place in Japanese art and making important revisions to the generally accepted chronology of his oeuvre. Other essays draw attention to aspects of Hiroshige's life and work which have often been overlooked and place Hiroshige and his art in their social and political context. This volume also includes maps, a chronology, a glossary and a bibliography.

Customer Reviews:

MaybeBestBook.......2006-03-21

The text provides the necessary background to facilitate understanding of the fantastic pictures. A great variety of photos provide wonderful insight into the world of Hiroshige. The pictures can be perused for pure enjoyment. Terrific book.

Superlative Art Book about Superlative Artist........2003-11-18

Quick, stop reading this review and buy this Hardcover book in New or Like New condition now, while you can. For, this is one of the greastest modern so-called 'coffee table' art books that I have come across. Too often these days one finds that such art books which should be large, lushly produced, lovingly put together and brilliantly written are unfortunately done with punk production values resulting in poor reproductions on cheap looking paper stock and accompanied by unedifying, often stultifying essays. Not this one. As I said above it is one of the most impressive art books that I have come across in twenty years of buying them. It is printed and bound in Germany which in itself is commendable and noteworthy because it is quite expensive to produce a book there. I am so glad they did because, as good as they are, Italy and Hong Kong, two places commonly used for producing today's art books, just don't do as good a job as Prestel has done in Germany. This book was originally produced to accompany an exhibition at the Royal Academy of the Arts during 1997. As such, it commanded a skilled and erudite staff of authors to craft both an accurate history and an illuminating commentary of the artist and his art. They are: Matthi Forrer, author of a similar book on Hokusai; Suzuki Juzo, the author of the standard monograph on Hiroshige; and Henry Smith a Professor of Japanese History at Columbia U. You will come back to this book many times over the years because there is so darned much information to absorb, visually and intellectually and because the publisher's top notch production values have accurately captured the spirit and beauty of Hiroshige's Woodblock Prints. This is the sort of book that will be actively sought out by art book collectors in years to come. This is why I say, buy it now, while you can at such a low price. You won't be sorry.

Amazing.......2000-05-04

I have no experience with art at all, but from my point of view this book is a jewl. Printings are so beautiful and relaxing, and they are numerous in this book. Also the book is well organized with explanations about the paintings.

A wonderful collection of Hiroshige's work........1999-11-19

Buy this book for the reproductions if nothing else. If you have seen good Hiroshige prints in their original condition, you know how much is usually lost in most reproductions. This book gets you about as close to the real thing as you are likely to find. The colors are magnificent.

The must-have book for those wishing to understand Hiroshige.......1999-10-31

A very comprehensive catalogue of Hiroshige's greatest prints. The book also includes some prints that are more obscure, as well as preparatory sketches and several printing blocks. Attractive as a coffee-table style hardback for those with a passing interest in Ukiyoe, it also is a must-have for those devotees wishing to understand the art of Japan's great landscape print artist.

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Ukiyo-E
Dont drop this book on your foot--OUCH!
The Book as Art

Ukiyo-E
Gian Carlo Calza , John T. Carpenter , Muto Junko , Naito Masato , and Timon Screech
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0714847941

Book Description

The art of ukiyo-e (the floating world) originated in the city of Edo (1603-1867, now Tokyo), when the political and military power of Japan was in the hands of the shoguns. Comprising six essays, six plate sections and over 600 illustrations this beautiful book provides a perfect introduction to the art of this period. The paintings, scrolls and prints reproduced here demonstrate not only the new urban pleasures of the theatre, restaurants, teahouses and geisha, but also Japan's love of nature and tradition. Professor Calza's accessible style provides a fascinating yet scholarly study of such masters as Hokusai, Hiroshige and Utamaro.

Customer Reviews:

Ukiyo-E.......2007-10-02

A sumptuous and diverse collection of these Japanese prints that have been so significant in Asian culture and Western art.

Dont drop this book on your foot--OUCH!.......2006-01-29

The eternal search for the perfect art book. Lots of high quality, large images. The book is predominantly images, with little supporting text. Which is just fine by me. The bredth of this book is its selling point. Its huge and covers a large span of time. My only issue is the size of the images. NOt all, but some are just to small. But, thats why I have a magnifying glass at hand. If you want to own one really good book on Ukiyo-e, this just might be your best bet.

The Book as Art.......2005-12-23

One of the most frequently referenced periods of Eastern art is the Edo Period in Japan, a time when woodcuts, scrolls, prints, and ink drawings literally flowed from the brushes and hands of craftsmen such as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Hiroshige. The depiction of ocean waves is still informing the art of many artists - Pat Steir comes to mind first. This is the period of ukiyo-e, a time of emperors and grandeur and shoguns and power, all captured in the enormously imaginative art. It was also a period when artists turned their attention to the honor of the geisha life, the teahouses, and the palaces of pleasure with graphic sexual depictions, a time when the rest of the outside world seemed to matter little to the level of culture in Edo (now Tokyo) for over 200 years.

This splendid book is in a very large format that allows the reproductions of the plates to resemble life size! Intertwined with the well written history of art and techniques as well as erudite essays on the Japanese sociopolitical, cultural, the all important Japanese tradition of the time are placed generous examples of the finest works by the finest artists. The art is flat dimensionally but hardly communicatively. Elegant portraits of geishas reveal the traditional garb and makeup and represent a history lesson for these women of pleasure. The pure landscapes and seascapes and views mountains and volcanoes are representative of the fact that Japan is an island and never far from the influence of water.

Though the book is expensive the investment is well worth the cost as only the finest paper, printing techniques, and design have been extravagantly lavished on this very beautiful and informative volume. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 05

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thank you mister Roberts.
A good overview of a great artist.
Egypt / Lost and Found
Egypt: yesterday and Today
Spectacular Egypt Drawings

Egypt: Yesterday And Today
Fabio bourbon
Manufacturer: Stewart, Tabori and Chang
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1556705182

Book Description

This book shows the before and after of these ancient sites after excavation as never seen before. The wonderful and romantic images from David Roberts as were first seen when he travelled to Egypt, are contrasted with current photographs of the same sites. Although saving these monuments to the ancient past is most important to the world, one can't help but to wish to come upon these wonders when Roberts captured them in his drawings. Truely a must for anyone who has been to Egypt, or simply wants to arm travel through history.A large book with full color plates.

Customer Reviews:

thank you mister Roberts........2007-06-30

This book is no more available in France (I'm from Paris), and I saw some sketches of David Roberts a trip in Aswan, so wished discover his work. I am delighted with this book. The high quality of printing, the intersting texts (even for a french citizen) are what was expecting. The most spectacular sketches are those of Isis temple that show the paintings on columns and ceiling nowadays disapeared. It is also fascinating to see the evolution of egyptian civilisation from 19th century and today, regarding way of life and architecture.
In one word : thank you mister Roberts.

A good overview of a great artist........2007-06-15

Many books on David Robert's are small or not generous enough to allow you full scope to enjoy his paintings or they focus on his Levantine paintings.

This book is probably the best around that is not to expensive but gives you a feel for his grand Egyptian paintings. Some really nice ones of Sphinx, pyramids and also some of the lesser temples feature. The only other book which is now out of print that deals with this subject well is Peter Clayton's the Re-discovery of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson.

Egypt / Lost and Found.......2007-01-03

As in the previous Roberts books, this format of a real-life photograph side by side with the artist's rendering of the same scene gives the reader a very reflective perspective into the Ancient World.

Egypt: yesterday and Today.......2006-03-17

This is a most amazing book, it has both water colours and photos of the sights of Ancient Egypt. As a reminder of a special holiday or a factual account it is the best. The size of the book makes it prominent coffee table book and easy to just pick up and dip into another wondeful page.

Spectacular Egypt Drawings.......2006-03-10

This is a most interesting and beautifully photograph and drawn comparison of ancient and modern Egypt of David Roberts Lithographs. This book is for anyone interested in Egypt. A beautiful coffee table book

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The Etchings of Louis Icart
S. Michael Schnessel , and Mel Karmel
Manufacturer: Schiffer Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Louis Icart: The Complete Etchings

ASIN: 0916838641

Book Description

There are really two books in this volume; one an historical study of Parisian artist Louis Icart's famous etchings of the early twentieth century, and the other a chronological catalog of all of Icart's known etchings. Both sections are vital information for collectors, art historians and dealers who want to date, identify and interpret the work of this prolific, stylish, and reflective artist. During his forty year artistic career, Louis Icart portrayed beautiful women through joyful, witty, and often poignant images. Icart's etchings are once again being collected and adored, just as they were between the two world wars.

Decorative Floral Woodcuts of the Sixteenth Century (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)

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Decorative Floral Woodcuts of the Sixteenth Century (Dover Pictorial Archive Series)
Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0486402061

Book Description

Approximately 220 royalty-free illustrations of plants and flowers featuring the extraordinary clarity and decorative beauty characteristic of old-time herbals. Originally used to illustrate a rare 16th-century botanical reference, these lovely illustrations depict blossoms and foliage from lavender, asparagus, and honeysuckle plants; maple, almond, apricot, apple and peach trees; and scores of other specimens.

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The Lithographs of Charles Banks Wilson
David C. Hunt
Manufacturer: University of Oklahoma Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0806121513

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