gravură - Universitatea Naţională de Arte

econfigure in the two-dimensional space of the printmaker’s plate,the real, visible motifs, he has to conform to an eternal theme thatemerges in the fine arts: that of suggesting the materiality of visiblereferences. The credibility of the scene printed is determined by themateriality of the represented motifs, such as, the mimicry of a realbody, the persuasive evocation of grass and rock, the tactile qualityof the silk, and others.There is a second area of study we would like to discuss here.We can talk, as we mentioned before, about the charm or the precioustexture of the paper used in printmaking, often made by hand, thevelvety quality of the black colors, the nuances of grays or the tonesof aqua tinta. In short, we are talking about the materiality of theprintmaking in the same way that we talk about the meaningfulmateriality of a painting when we try to decipher its content, or whenwe admire the tactile surfaces of a marble or bronze sculpture.Over the years, different artistic school and artistic orientationshave given rise to different approaches to the theme of materiality.The problem of figuration, in short, it is to be found between thefiguration as an end in itself and the denial of such end. For example,in Flemish painting, both in realism and naturalism, the tastesof the professionals as well as amateurs painters have imposed apedantic preoccupation for the evocation to the point of confusionof the subject of materiality. The unmistakable identity of furs,silks, tapestries, metals, represented a glorious goal in itself. At theother end of the spectrum, we can fin the obvious indifference of theartist for material appearances, which sometimes went as far as todeny the solidity of objects and subjects, as we can see for examplein cubism, constructivism, abstract expressionism, etc. Even in this206Florin STOICIU