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Origins of European Printmaking. Art 515 Kristofer Plona. Printmaking in the North. Development greatly impacted by the development of the printing press Arguably the most important invention in a century of fine arts
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Origins of European Printmaking Art 515 Kristofer Plona
Printmaking in the North • Development greatly impacted by the development of the printing press • Arguably the most important invention in a century of fine arts • Dramatic effects on social trends, politics, religion, education, and economy
Printmaking in the North • First instances of printmaking occur in the 14th century as printed imagery appears on playing cards, tapestries, stained glass, and text illuminations • Earliest dated woodcut appeared in Brussels in 1418 • Initially, woodcuts served as affordable images for devotion; prints sold to pilgrims as proof of their travels to holy sites throughout Europe
Block Books • Constructed by pilgrims • Religious in context • Used by clergy for educational purposes • BibliaPauperum or “Pauper’s Bible” contained the sum of religious knowledge • Over 100 pages and 40 illustrations and bound • Linear prints and colored by hand by other artists or the owner of a given print Scene from BibliaPauperum Ink on Vellum Bavarian State Library, Munich (World Digital Library)
Block Books World Digital Library
Printing Press • Demand for cheaper books • Johannes Gutenberg, mid-1500s • First instance of movable type • First printed book was the Mazarin Bible (also referred to as the “Gutenberg Bible”)
Gutenberg Bible • Combined movable type with hand-drawn illuminations • Printed in Latin; Three volumes • 1,282 pages; 290 separate characters, 42 lines of text with two columns • Text illuminations signal the beginning of new verses • Origin of standardized spelling and grammar • Page breaks included Johann Gutenberg Page From 36-Line Bible Ink on Vellum The Library of Congress, Washington D.C. (World Digital Library)
Gutenberg Bible Worlds Digital Library
Map Making Martin Waldseemüller World Map w/ Gores Printed 1507 (Landau & Parshall)
Map Making Martin Waldseemüller World Map w/ Gores Printed 1507 (Landau & Parshall)
The Woodcut • Early woodcuts linear in nature with heavy outlines • Color, texture, value, and perspective an afterthought • Visual arts spiritual in nature Anton Sorg Devils Tormenting Abraham in His Cell Printed 1482 (Landau & Parshall)
Albrecht Duerer Self-Portrait at 28Oil on panel AltePinakothek, Munich
Albrecht Duerer Self-Portrait at 28Oil on panel AltePinakothek, Munich KristoferPlona Self-Portrait at 26Digital Photography My Apartment, Milton
Albrecht Duerer Samson Rending the Lion Woodcut / Woodblock British Museum, London (Landau & Parshall, 170)
Albrecht Duerer Rhinoceros Woodcut 1515 (World Digital Library)
Lucas Cranach the Elder St. George and the DragonChiaroscuro woodcut British Museum, London(Landau & Parshall, 186) Chiaroscuro woodcuts included multiple runs and colors Blue (Solid Background) 2) Black (Linear Woodcut) 3) Gold (Highlights)
Printing Guilds • Professional organizations borrowing from previously founded guilds • Tools of metal workers, carpenters, sculptors, painters, illuminators, and weavers 1) Block making (maple, beech, cherry, etc.) 2) Image design for plate 3) Formschneider – cutting, carving 4) Rubricator – inks, papers, and printing
Master of Balaam St. Eloy in his Workshop Engraving Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam(Landau & Parshall, 2)
Israhel van Meckenem Dance at the Court of Herod Engraving National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (Landau & Parshall,58) Etchings and Engravings • Copper, brass, tin, and pewter plates • More durable than woodcuts • Larger editions possible • New tools developed: dry point and burin • Wide variety in line allows artists greater detail and full spectrum of value (lightness vs. darkness)
Works Cited • Bitel, L., & Kelle, M. (n.d.). Devils Tormenting Abraham in His Cell. In Figurae. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from http://monasticmatrix.org/figurae/?function=summary&id=1229 • Parshall, Peter, and Rainer Schoch.Origins of European Printmaking.New Haven: YaleUniversity Press, 2006. Print • The Self-Portraits of Albrecht Dürer (2012). In Art History. Retrieved April 30, 2012, from http://employees.oneonta.edu/farberas/arth/arth200/artist/durer_intro.html • World Digital Library.United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 7 Mar. 2012.Web. 8 Apr. 2012. from http://www.wdl.org/en/