18th- and 19th-Century Printmaking

18th Century Printmaking Innovations A desire to emulate drawings spurred innovation in color intaglio printing (etching and engraving). By 1757 the mattoir had been devloped--a tool with toothed points of varying thicknesses set at irregular intervals and angles--which pitted the metal printing plate to imitate the texture of chalk drawings. This allowed printmakers to imitate the texture of chalk drawings. Chalk-manner etching and engraving was quickly adopted by Louis-Marin Bonnet (1736-1793) to copy Francois Boucher's (1703-1770) colorful and popular pastel drawings, such as Head of a Woman (about 1771). This portrait of a self assured young woman, her dress and accoutrements rich in shades of blue and peach, captures the spontaneous, light touch of Boucher's hand.

Louis-Marin Bonnet (French, 1736-1793) Head of a Woman (after Francois Boucher), about 1771 Color chalk-manner etching and engraving Dudley P. Allen Fund 1996.6

In 1772 Jean-Francois Janinet (1752-1814) refined the tools used for chalk-manner prints, using denser clusters of minute points that abraded the copper plate. The plate's delicately textured surface catches just enough ink to print in filmy layers of color, producuing lavis-manner, or "wash" prints that duplicate airy washes of ink or watercolor. Janinet also printed gold frames around his prints, a technique borrowed from Bonnet --and which was illegal, because printmakers were not among the trades officially allowed to use gold leaf. Few of Janinet's prints with gold frames survive, but the Cleveland Museum of Art owns two: Vertumnus and Pomonoaand Zephyre and Flore (both 1776).

Jean-Francois Janinet (French, 1752-1814) Vertumnus and Pomona (after Antoine Coypel), about 1776 Lavis-manner color etching and engraving with printed gold borders GIft of Mr. and Mrs. Robert D. Milne in memory of Leona E. Prasse 1987.90

Experimentation Continues into 19th Century Nineteenth-century innovations in printmaking include the cliche-verre technique, developed aroung 1853, in which a glass plate is coated with an opaque ground. The artist then draws the composition through the substance using a sharp tool. Then the plate is placed on a sheet of light-sensitive paper and exposed so that light enters through the scratched-away lines, leaving a reproduction of the design on paper. Artists like Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) used cliche-verre to produce landscapes. Edgar Degas (1824-1917) became the undisputed master of the monotype technique, reinventing the process with his friend Vicomte Ludovic Lepic. In a monotype, ink or paint is applied directly to an unworked metal plate. When the painted plate is covered with paper and run through a printing press, the pressure causes the paint to smear so that the result is somewhat unexpected. Esterel Village (1890-93), which hovers on the brink of abstract art, exemplifies how Degas suggested forms with indefinite blurred masses of color.

Edgar Degas (French, 1824-1917) Esterel Village, about 1890 Monotype Fiftieth Anniversary Gift of the Print Club of Cleveland 1966.177

Lithography, invented in 1798, became important in France from 1816 since a large number of impressions could be printed from the lithographic stone. The 1890s were the golden age of color lithography in France. Toulouse-Lautrec's famous May Milton (1895) is considered one of his boldest compositions and illustrates his innovative style based on a dynamic patter of flat, simpliefied, brightly colored shapes and dramatic silhouettes. Milton was an English dancer who appeared at the Moulin Rouge, one of Paris's most popular cafe-concerts. Lautrec (1864-1901) made this poster to advertise her tour of the United States.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901) May Milton, 1895 Color Lithograph Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1952.10

These posters, advertising Parisian performers, were also considered fine art and were framed for display. An astute observer of character and physiognomy, Lautrec captured the life of a decadent era in his radically concise, vigrouous representations.

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