CMA Exhibition Feature : Glossary of Printmaking Terms

Special Exhibitions

Inventive Impressions


	*Inventive Impressions*

Glossary of Printmaking Terms

A print is an image created by the process of transfer from one surface to another, which enables the production of multiple images. The design is created on a matrix (woodblock, metal plate, or stone, for example) that is inked and impressed onto a sheet of paper or other suitable material. In the transfer process the image is reversed. There are three general categories of printmaking methods:

RELIEF The image is printed from the raised portions of a carved, etched, or cast block or other rigid material. The printing surface stands in relief above the rest of the block, as in a woodcut.

INTAGLIO The image is created by incising lines in a plate, as in engraving or etching. The lines are sunken grooves in the plate.

PLANOGRAPHIC The image is created on a flat surface that has no variation in depth. The image is made on the surface of a stone or plate that is altered chemically, as in lithography.

AFTER When a printmaker uses the design (often a painting or drawing) of another artist as a basis for a print.

A LA POUPÉE Several colors are applied to a single plate using stumps of rag known as a dolly or poupée.

AQUATINT Fine particles of acid-resistant resin are deposited on a metal plate and heated so that they adhere to the surface. The plate is immersed in acid, which bites into the plate between the particles, so when printed the effect of a subtle granular tone similar to wash or watercolor is achieved.

CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ A book listing all of the prints by a certain artist. References to a catalogue raisonné are by the author's last name.

CHALK MANNER ETCHING AND ENGRAVING An intaglio method which uses tools with toothed points of varying thicknesses set at irregular intervals and angles which imitate the random character of grains of chalk on textured paper.

CHIAROSCURO WOODCUT A print in colors from two or more blocks which provide the overall background tone for the composition while unprinted areas of white paper act as highlights.

CHINE COLLÉ A thin sheet of Oriental paper is pressed to a heavier backing sheet when it is put through the press for printing.

CLICHÉ-VERRE A glass plate is covered with an opaque ground through which the design is drawn with a sharp instrument. The plate is then placed on a sheet of sensitized paper and exposed to light so that the image is reproduced on the paper.

DRYPOINT Lines are scratched directly into a metal plate with a sharp point that causes metal fragments to be thrown up on either side of the line. This residue of metal, known as "burr," holds a quantity of ink that gives the line a rich velvety texture when printed.

EMBOSSING Any process used to raise the image slightly, producing a three-dimensional effect.

ENGRAVING Lines are incised into a metal plate with a sharp instrument called a burin, which creates a V-shaped groove.

ETCHING A metal plate is coated with a varnish-like substance (known as the "ground") that is impervious to acid. The artist creates an image by drawing directly through the ground with an etching needle, exposing metal. The plate is then immersed in acid which bites grooves in it where the metal plate has been exposed.

GYPSOGRAPH A relief technique where the plate is made of hardened plaster.

LAVIS MANNER ETCHING AND ENGRAVING An intaglio method which uses tools ending in dense clusters of minute points so that the tools abrade the copper plate to leave delicately textured surfaces capable of catching just enough ink to print in filmy layers of color.

LITHOGRAPH The design is drawn on a stone (or certain types of plates) with a greasy crayon or ink. The stone is washed with water which adheres to the bare stone and not the greasy areas while the printing ink does the opposite - it sticks to the greasy areas and not the wet stone.

MONOTYPE A design is drawn with ink or paint on an unworked plate and printed onto paper.

ROULETTE A tool with a spiked wheel used to incise lines of even dots on etching or engraving plates.

SOFTGROUND ETCHING The artist draws on a piece of thin paper placed on top of a special etching ground. When the paper is removed, the ground adheres to the paper where the drawing instrument was pressed, leaving the design as exposed metal on the plate.

STATE Any stage in the development of a print at which impressions are taken. A change of state occurs only with the addition or removal of lines on a plate.

STIPPLE Etching and engraving technique that produces tonal effects by means of dots and short strokes.

WOODCUT The areas around each line of the design are cut out so that only the lines to be inked and printed stand out in relief.

WOOD ENGRAVING A sharply pointed instrument called a burin cuts into the end grain of a hard wood to create the design. The surface of the block is inked and printed producing white lines on a black background.

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