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Although many believe that “antique” should refer only to prints 100 years old or more, many 20th century prints are very collectible. The term “original print” often leads to confusion. Among print collectors, prints that were made (“struck”) at the time the printing plate was produced are considered original prints. Examples from the original plate but printed much later are termed restrikes. Copies made by taking an original print and producing a new printing plate are termed reproductions (or counterfeits). Modern reproductions of pre-20th century prints usually use the photo-offset process, which differs from the original technique and reveal tell-tale signs when examined closely. PRINTS ARE OFTEN DIFFERENTIATED AS DECORATIVE OR ARTIST PRINTS: Decorative prints: A class of prints that are made using a printing plate produced by a skilled artisan who has copied or adapted a design by another artist. Decorative prints may be natural history images (animals or plants), scenic views, maps, industrial or architectural views or many other types of images. This category also includes copies of paintings and drawings which were the primary means of illustrating artworks through the 19th century. In many cases decorative prints come from books, atlases or magazines.Artist prints: The artist who designed and drew the picture also produced the printing plate from which the prints are made. The only “intermediary” is typically the expert printer. In the last 100 years artist prints are frequently hand signed (usually in pencil), and in the last 70 years typically numbered (as part of a limited edition). Earlier artist prints may have been published in books or periodicals. There is much overlap between the categories of decorative and artist prints.PRINTMAKING TECHNIQUES Engraving: The design is scratched into the surface of a smooth copper plate with a tiny chisel (burin). The plate is coated with ink, which is then wiped off. The ink is retained in the grooves. When a plain sheet of paper is pressed to the plate the image is transferred to the paper. Deeper, wider grooves print darker than thin shallow ones. Fabulous detail may be produced by the hands of a skilled engraver. The plate may become worn after a couple hundred prints, and to avoid this the plate may be “steel-faced” or plated to prolong the useful life of the image. Hence the term “steel engraving”.Wood engraving: Similar to the woodcut, except the design is engraved into the end-grain of the wood, which is harder and allows much finer lines to be produced. The peak of wood engraving was the latter part of the 19th century. This was the technique of illustrated newspapers such as Harpers Weekly, and numerous illustrated books.Woodcut: One of the earliest techniques. A block of wood is carved (engraved) with a chisel to remove areas that are to remain white. The remaining raised surface of the wood has the image to be printed. Note that the raised part of the woodcut prints the image, whereas in a copper engraving or etching it is the recessed part of the plate that prints the image.Etching: A blank copper plate is coated with a hard wax (ground). The artist uses a needle to scratch through the ground to the surface of the plate. After the design is drawn in this way, the plate is placed in acid which “bites” into the copper plate in the areas that were scratched through, but has no effect on the areas still coated with the ground. When the ground is later removed the artwork is found to be etched into the copper plate. This plate can then be printed exactly like an engraving described above. The printed lines in an etching may have a slight fuzziness (burr) whereas the lines in an engraving are very sharply defined.Mezzotint: The surface of a copper plate is first roughened completely with a tool called a rocker. The image to be printed is achieved by smoothing the areas of the plate to be the lighter parts of the image. The rougher areas print a rich mossy black, which is the characteristic trait of the mezzotint. This process was popular for portraits in 18th century England and for some copies of art works.Aquatint: A granular ground is applied to a blank copper plate. It is then bitten with acid, similar to the etching. The artist keeps reapplying the ground and rebiting the plate in selected areas where the image is to be built up. Aquatints have a grainy surface and are somewhat a cross between etching and mezzotint.Lithograph: Invented in Germany in 1795. A waxy crayon is used to draw an image on a smooth fine-grained piece of limestone. After chemical treatment, the stone is inked and wiped. The ink adheres to the crayon drawing but not the blank parts of the stone. When paper is pressed to it, the image is transferred. Lithographs achieve a look very much like crayon or charcoal drawing, though they are, of course, printed with ink.COLOR IN ANTIQUE PRINTS Hand colored: Many prints in “black and white” have been colored by hand using watercolor paints. This may have been done when the prints were issued (“contemporary or original hand colored”) or recently (“later hand colored”). During the 16th through 19th centuries some prints (eg. maps) may have been sold either hand colored or black and white. Today many old black and white prints are newly hand colored to enhance eye appeal and salability.Printed color (engraving and etching): In the 18th century, especially in France, engravings were often printed in color using a single printing plate, with all colors applied simultaneously. This required careful inking of the plate with each color ink in its particular location , after which the plate was impressed on the paper. This laborious process had to be repeated for each print made. Such prints are often termed color stipple engravings because the stipple (dotted) form of engraving was best suited to this technique.Color lithograph: Separate lithographic stones are prepared for each color to be printed. When they are printed on the sheet in perfect registration, an excellent quality of color print is obtained. The peak of color lithography was 1830 to 1900. As many as 40 separate stones were sometimes used, leading to very rich textured color.Color woodcut: A separate woodblock is made for each color and then they are all printed in succession. Japanese color prints represent the peak of the technique, but it was also popular for American and European artist prints, especially during this century.Pochoir: This is an unusual printing technique used in France between 1910 and 1930. Paper stencils are cut for each color required, and watercolors are used with each stencil to apply color to the blank paper. Under expert workmanship a remarkably rich color print can be produced, though it is very labor intensive. Pochoir technique was primarily used for fashion and design illustration during the Art Deco era.Photo-offset lithography (3 or 4 color process): Around the turn of the 20th century, the currently used process of printing was developed. The image is photographed using color filters though a succession of dotted screens. Typically the image is separated into three colors (red, yellow, blue) or four colors (red, yellow, blue, black). Each of the printing plates produced has tiny regular raised dots to receive the primary color (or black). When the plates are printed sequentially, a full color image is produced. This process is especially good for capturing subtle gradations of color. The tell-tale of this technique is a tiny regular dot pattern with white in between. When antique prints are reproduced today this is the most common method, and the dot pattern is the evidence that the print is a modern copy. However, many authentic early 20th century decorative prints and posters were made using this process, and could still be viewed as authentic antique prints. Familiarity with the particular look of the antique print in question and its paper, can lead to certainty of authenticity of such prints.Laser prints, other modern techniques: Recent technologies have led to high quality color copying techniques, which can sometimes cause confusion with authentic antique prints. Typically these are printed on thin “computer” or “xerox” paper, and as such are very different from the originals. In many cases the pure white back of the sheet is also an indication. Further laser and inkjet prints have a unique texture under magnification which is very different from the other techniques described above. Modern reproductions are not deceptive if one makes even a brief study with a magnifier of the various printmaking techniques. |
