Friday, March 23, 2012

Understanding Your Fine Art Investment

"Fine Art Print" is a term often misunderstood. Frequently, the first image to pop into one's head is a mass-produced poster on simple shiny paper bought at the local mall or souvenir shop for a few bucks.

This guide will help you understand the very different world of the authentic Original Fine Art Print. Many thanks to our Beloved Friend, Brother in Spirit, and Brilliant Master Printmaker and Artist, Pascal Giraudon, for this information.

PRINTING TECHNIQUES

WOODBLOCKS (or WOODCUTS)

Technique

Basically, a block of wood is engraved by carving away what will stay white on the paper and keeping intact the lines for inking. A roller or brush is used to ink the woodblock. Very little pressure on the paper or fabric is necessary to create the print.

To create a color woodcut print, color is applied to each block of wood separately, then registered and printed individually on the paper.
History

Woodblocking was the first technique of printing, developed in China in the second century A.D. It was brought to Japan in the sixth century A.D. in the wake of Buddhism -- the early Japanese woodcuts were often religious in subject matter until the 17th century, when "Ukiyo-e" (a more highly developed artistic genre featuring motifs of landscapes, historical tales, pleasure quarters, and the theatre) began to emerge. Japan's multi-colored prints of the 18th & 19th centuries brought us the quintessential eloquence of color concept in woodcuts.

In Europe, the woodblock technique came alive in the Middle Ages, upon Marco Polo's return from the Orient with China's paper-making method. Color was first used in woodcuts to hand-tint the black & white art images of saints. The method of printing pictorial color woodcuts from separate blocks, known as "Chiaroscuro", first appeared in Italy in 1455 and Germany in 1508. The second half of the 17th century brought western Europe the use of color from several woodblocks for heraldic images, initials, and printers' marks. In 1867, the Paris Art World became aware of Ukiyo-e as a profound new art form when a large quantity was exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle. Japanese printmakers' concept of the symbolism of flat color, pattern and line was a great influence upon the work of Gauguin, Van Gogh, Lautrec, Whistler and others.

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