The Original Print Understanding Technique in Contemporary Fine Printmaking

For many art lovers and collectors, the term "print" suggests a two-dimensional work on paper made by one of a dozen or so half-understood techniques-aquatints, etchings, lithographs, screenprints, etc. This book shows readers the effort and skill that these techniques entail, how they are used, and how the artists employ them to create specific effects.

This book is both a survey of the best contemporary prints by American artists and a guide to printmaking techniques and effects. Nearly one hundred prints are shown in full color. Works are grouped by technique, and each section begins with an explanation of the process or processes illustrated within the chapter. Print publisher, curator and former gallery owner Chris Byrne has specialized in contemporary fine art prints for the last fifteen years. Using examples from ten of North America's top print houses, Byrne describes both basic techniques and the joint experimentation of artist and master printer as they create new images for an expanding audience.

Printmaking spans everything from hand prints on ancient cave walls to Rembrandt's copper etchings of the Virgin and Child and Warhol's soup cans to the potato prints made by today's second grader at the kitchen table. Byrne, a print publisher and curator, here focuses on strictly contemporary uses of etching, aquatint, lithography, and screen printing. He covers both basic techniques and the joint experimentation of artist and master printer, surveying the American print scene with examples from ten of the top North American print houses. Recommended for collections serving advanced students and professionals. Chief curator of the Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Lambert here offers a very fine, short volume that concentrates on traditional printmaking methods, including relief, intaglio, planographic, and stencil. She uses examples from William Hogarth to Victor Vasarely, drawing on the collections of the V & A. Lambert addresses students and collectors, including a glossary of technical terms, abbreviations found in print inscriptions, and a select bibliography. This is recommended for popular collections but cannot replace John Ross and Clare Romano's essential and far more comprehensive Complete Printmaker.
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