What is a print?

"Print" is a generic term for artworks made by creating an image on a plate or flat surface and then transferring it to another material, enabling a series of identical images to be produced. The Jaski Art Gallery prints mainly comprise silkscreen prints, lithographs and etchings.

There are still artists, etchers in particular, who carry out the actual printing themselves. However, when it comes to producing lithographs and silkscreen prints the artists generally call on specialist professionals who sometimes carry out the reproduction work by hand, often in consultation with the artist.

Andy Warhol is the artist who made working with silkscreens popular in the 1960s. Artists such as Corneille, Appel and Brood have built up a considerable oeuvre of prints. Each print must be signed by the artist's own hand. The advantage of lithographs and silkscreen prints is that unlike etchings they do not lose quality during the printing process.

On the picture etcher Jan Montyn at work in his studio.

Silkscreen printing

Silkscreen prints are produced by the stencil method. In other print techniques the original is a mirror image of the final result, but in silkscreen printing this is not the case. Furthermore, it is possible to print not just on paper but on other materials as well.

The image is cut out of film, drawn with chalk or produced photographically and applied to the screen (originally made of silk, hence the name) so that the non-printing areas of the screen are covered but the printing areas are not. Ink is spread over the screen with a squeegee and pressed through it onto the printing medium. A separate screen has to be used for each colour.

The picture shows a silkscreen by Emilio Kruithof from 2006, called 'Mask'.

Lithography

The lithography technique has been around for only two hundred years or so. In contrast to older techniques like relief printing and intaglio printing, in lithography the printing and non-printing areas lie in the same plane. Lithography is based on the fact that water and grease do not mix.

A drawing is made on a flat, polished stone (hence the name) with a greasy crayon. Then the stone is treated with a mixture of gum arabic and a small amount of acid to prevent the grease spreading. Before printing the stone is moistened. When the ink is applied to the stone, it only adheres to the greasy parts. The image is then printed from the stone. For multicolour prints a separate stone has to be used for each colour.

The picture shows the litho 'Visage de la lune, visage de la terre' from 1975 by Corneille.

Etching

Etchings are produced by a simple intaglio method. A copper or zinc plate is covered with wax and the artist scratches the image onto it with a steel needle (or "drypoint"). The plate is then treated with acid. Where the drypoint has scratched away the wax the acid eats into the metal; elsewhere the wax forms a protective, ink-repellent layer.

To produce the image the plate is covered with moistened paper and is then put under great pressure in the etching press. The number of prints that can be made is limited, as the quality of the plate gradually deteriorates.

The picture shows the etching 'Woman with dog' from 1990 by Constant.