Holly EJ Black’s The Story of Printmaking: A Global History of Art is a landmark new book that explores the full history of prints as an art form. It’s the first ever publication to do so. Here I speak to Holly to discover more.
I’ve always known what ‘paintings’ are, I think.
They permeate into our consciousness from early childhood don’t they, so we have no memory of ever not knowing. Like understanding what ‘music’ or ‘windows’ are.
But ‘prints’ are different. I can actually remember when I first came to grasp what these really are — beyond being some ink on paper. It was 2018 — yes, long into adulthood! — and I was tasked with looking after the PR for the British Museum’s Edvard Munch: love and angst exhibition. It was devoted to the Norwegian master’s printmaking.
Thanks to a truly remarkable collection of works which came on loan from the Munch Museum in Oslo, and because of a brilliant expert curator in Giulia Bartram, I came to properly appreciate what a ‘print’ is while working on that show.
Now, many of you reading this will know all about prints, for sure. But I also know very many won’t. And in the wider world, they are very little understood.
And that’s because they are complicated! From lithographs and plates, to editions and artist’s proofs, there’s a hell of a lot to them. I am still actually quite fuzzy on which technique is which.
But prints are brilliant, and deserve a much wider appreciation. And today’s interviewee agrees.
Holly EJ Black’s is a journalist and printmaker by training, and she’s just written a landmark new book on the evolution of prints from prehistory to the present day. Incredibly, it’s the very first overarching book about the history of printmaking (a fact that’s further evidence of its sidelining as an art form over the centuries).
So as someone who has only in recent years properly come to appreciate printmaking and its role in the art world, I sat down with Holly to find out much more about why this book — and prints — are so important. Here we discuss how prints have made the careers of some of the biggest names in art, how museums can help champion the art form, and how you and any budding collectors can start building your own print collection.
Hi Holly. For a long time I struggled to get my head around prints. So, let’s start from the beginning. What do we mean when we talk about prints?
The term ‘print’ covers an unwieldy number of processes such as woodcut, etching, lithography and screen printing. They all have their distinct processes and techniques.
But, in its simplest terms, a print is a work that is created through the action of impressing one surface onto another, to transfer a viscous substance (usually ink).
Broadly speaking, it is also something that can be produced in multiple, whether that be rubbing a piece of paper onto a block of wood by hand, or utilising mechanised technology to create hundreds of near-identical impressions.
Another thing to note is that the ‘creator’ or ‘creators’ of a print can take on many forms. For example, William Blake conceived, etched and printed his plates himself, whereas an artist such as Hokusai would have designed a composition before handing it to a carver, colourist and printer, with his oversight.
Others such as Picasso worked tirelessly with experts known as ‘master printers’ such as Roger Lacourière and Aldo Crommelynck to closely hone his vision, in a much closer collaborative capacity.
In my book, I’ve stuck solely to the world of prints on paper, because textiles are another rich and heavily researched subject.
Yours is a landmark publication, the first to really cover the full history of the printed image. Why has it not been done before?
I have no idea why this hasn’t been written before, but I was very excited to take on the challenge!
I think it has a lot to do with the fact that printmaking (which I define as something with artistic intent in the creation of an image, delineating it from the broader world of mass-printed media) is so complex in terms of its role as an ‘umbrella’ for so many techniques.
There is also a relative lack of knowledge within the art world concerning how prints are made, once you step out of the realm of expert printmakers and academics. Everyone has some idea of how a painting or sculpture is created, but less so a mezzotint or a lithograph. I have used my own training as a printmaker to demystify how prints are made and give readers a sense of how it feels to physically produce one of these works.
Historically speaking printmaking has also been seen as secondary to ‘fine art’ practice, and is often misunderstood as nothing more than a copy of an existing work of art. This is something I really hope to dispel in my book.
📚 Buy The Story of Printmaking: A Global History of Art from my bookshop.org store — every purchase supports maxwell museums
On that last point, why do you think printmaking is seen as ‘secondary’ and why are prints generally undervalued?
Works on paper have always been considered of less value. It is an issue with the market and critical appreciation as a whole. The idea of print as a multiple, and one that does not express an original concept or creative execution, continues to dog the art form — despite so much evidence to the contrary.
Also, because artists often collaborate with expert printers to produce a technically complex print, there is an outmoded idea that it is somehow further away from the artist’s authorship. It is a concept that doesn’t really ring true, considering the feted status of works such as a Duchamp readymade.
What can museums and galleries do to elevate the medium of printmaking? Or perhaps it will always be this way?
I’d love to see more exhibitions that actually explain how prints are made. I’ve seen live demonstrations in the past, which really bring things to life, and video is getting better and better. Exhibitions that focus on a particular artist’s oeuvre are wonderful (e.g. The Whitworth’s Albrecht Dürer’s material world) but I’d like to see more that explain how printmaking cross-pollinates and influences broader art practice.
This was the case with From Posada to Isotype, from Kollwitz to Catlett at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte at the Reina Sofia. It explored the exchanges of political print culture between Germany and Mexico in the first half of the 20th century.
Your book features ten chapters that cover thousands of years. If it’s not too impossible a task, can you pinpoint one moment that has been the most important in the story of printmaking?
There are so many to choose from! But I begin my story in ancient East Asia, and the discovery of the Diamond Sutra in the Mogao Caves in Dunhang, in 1907. This is the oldest surviving printed and dated book in the world, and features an exceptional illustrated frontispiece.
It is proof that a hugely rich printing culture existed hundreds of years before the invention of the Gutenberg Press in around 1450. Too often, these older histories across China, Japan and Korea are nothing more than a brief prologue to accounts of innovation in Northern Europe. That really needs to change.
Who are the great printmakers?
I could reel off hundreds. Off the top of my head the titans are Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Hokusai, Hiroshige, William Hogarth, Pablo Picasso, William Blake, Kathë Kollwitz, Francisco de Goya, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Elizabeth Catlett.
Among my other heroes are Mary Cassatt, Helen Frankenthaler, Paula Rego, Leopoldo Méndez and Hendrick Goltzius.
In terms of influential master printers who were also artists, Stanley William Hayter and Robert Blackburn shaped the face of modern art. There are also individuals who ran (or run) hugely influential printing studios but weren’t printmakers themselves, such as Tatyana Grosman of ULAE (Universal Limited art Editions) and Volcxken Diericx, who oversaw one of the most revered publishing houses of the 16th century, following the death of her husband and business partner Hieronymus Cock.
What are some of the biggest surprises you came across when writing the book?
The tenacity and dedication of so many individuals, and the bonds between master prints and artists, has been a really incredible constant.
For example, Bill Goldston (former master printer and director of ULAE) was so close with Robert Rauschenberg that he carries a bottle of the late artist’s ashes in his pocket. José Sánchez, meanwhile, was master lithographer at the Taller de Gráfica Popular in Mexico City. He lost his arm in a hideous accident with a printing press at his ‘day job.’ He offered his fellow artists advice from his hospital bed, before returning to the famed studio, with the aid of a prosthetic purchased by his compatriots.
Printmaking has been vital to many an artists’ career. Explain their role for an artist’s finances.
Printmaking has often proved fruitful for artists looking for income beyond commissions and selling exhibitions, as prints have a lower production, they scale (usually) and therefore have a lower sale price, so they can be sold to a bigger audience and easily disseminated.
Historically they have also been vital in establishing an artist’s celebrity. Dürer spearheaded this, and Hogarth managed to create a whole new market by making limited-edition print series of his ‘modern moral subjects’, which are now more famous than the paintings on which they are based.
On that, we know prints are a gateway into collecting. What are some tips for readers who want to explore acquiring their own print collection?
The gateway has a lot to do with price point, and the comparative value is easier to ascertain when other impressions from the same edition are on the market. So in terms of acquiring, there are some great dedicated print fairs such as the IFPDA in New York, and the London Original Print Fair and Imprint (recently rebranded from Woolwich Print Fair). They not only feature star exhibitors that might span Old Masters to blue-chip contemporary, but have rich and informative talks and education programmes.
Online only models such as Heni Editions, Avant Arte and Circa, all work directly with contemporary artists and utilise social-media friendly auctions and selling portals. They also often have philanthropic elements, as do editions produced in partnership with museums and institutional galleries.
When buying prints, get informed about different types of print processes and a work’s origins. Look out for highly reputable printing studios as they might point to a more sought-after edition. They often feature their own logo or ‘chop’ beyond the margin of the print. Also, ask questions about an edition size (a finite, closed edition is far more valuable than something seemingly open-ended) and be aware that the meticulous, digitally produced giclée is something quite different to a lithograph or screenprint. Finally, ‘lifetime’ impressions were made when an artist was still alive, and are far more valuable than those made posthumously.
Finally, if people want to see and learn more about prints, where should they go?
As well as my book, I’ve also started a Substack newsletter called Various Imprints which gives a monthly rundown of must-see shows, insight into a particular work, and more from my research that didn’t quite make it into The Story of Printmaking.
World-class collections include the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin, the V&A and the British Museum, all of which feature excellent Prints and Drawing displays, as well as bigger exhibitions. Print Center New York is a great space dedicated to the art form.
