Matrix: Contemporary Printmaking - Museum of Fine Arts - Florida ...

Fall 2009
Different uses for Printmaking
Throughout History
images, political images, scientific drawings,
or even humorous images, which we might
consider cartoons today.
Art with a Statement
Francisco Goya
Disasters of War:
It Always Happens
1810-1820
Many
times prints
were produced
to make the
artist’s thoughts
clear. An artist could make a statement
about the current rulers, or war, or the
division between the upper class and lower
class. And producing these images as prints
allowed artists to spread their views quickly.
Francisco Goya completed a series of prints
in which he protested the war going on in
Spain during his time. Honore Daumier
completed prints in which he made
comments about the political unrest in
France during his time. Rembrandt made
prints to represent his religious views. The
ease with which prints could be mass
produced allowed for the free flow of their
political ideas into the public consciousness.
Japanese Printmaking
Printmaking in the Far East has
been a long-standing
tradition. Printmaking in
Japan took on a unique
style of its own, and is one
of the most recognizable
styles in art.
Yoshida Hiroshi
Night Scene After the Rain
1925
Printmaking in
Japan began largely the
same way printmaking
began in Europe, as a
means to reproduce
documents, specifically
religious ones. The technique used was
woodblock printing, which continued into the
modern era. Artists such as Hokusai and
Hiroshi designed multiple blocks, to create
prints with color. As the centuries
progressed, the artists became more skilled,
and were able to include intricate color
details.
Japanese prints had a strong
influence on European prints in the 1800s
and 1900s. When Japan began to increase
trade with Europe in the later nineteenth
century, the style began to show up in
western prints and in the works of the
Impressionists. This was actually mostly
accidental, as Japan was not exporting the
prints specifically, but rather using the prints
to wrap the delicate
porcelain they were
exporting, much in the
way we use old
newspaper to wrap
dishes today. This
coincidence created one
of the strongest
influences of outside art
on the Impressionists,
including Manet, Monet,
Cassatt, and Renoir.
Mary Cassatt
The Bath
1891
Modern Printmaking
Printmaking today takes on many
forms and covers a wide variety of
purposes. With the advancement of
digital images, traditional printmaking
has become almost strictly an art
form, rather than a form for mass
communication. Many modern fine
artists use printmaking to develop
works. Screen-printing, which only
developed recently, is widely used as
a commercial printmaking process
today. Technology has advanced
enough that printmaking can still be
used, but the process can require
little or no human involvement, as is
the case with printed newspapers,
and printing money.
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