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Intaglio is an Italian word meaning to cut into. In intaglio
printmaking the picture design was cut into a piece of metal and the cuts
were filled with ink. A piece of paper was then pushed into the cuts using a
mechanical press to transfer the ink to paper. Cuts could be made using a
metal tool or acid or both to create different artistic effects. Four types
of intaglio printmaking used to make Japanese flower-bird prints were mezzotint,
etching, aquatint and drypoint.
The Italian word mezzotint means half tone and this method was used to
emphasize tonal variation in the color of the object depicted. To produce a
mezzotint the entire metal plate was first roughen (i.e., cut into) with a
metal tool. Then portions of the plate were smoothed to reduce the depth of
cut to differing degrees. When ink was added the deepest cuts held the most
ink and would print darkest. In picture 1 below the black background had the
deepest cuts and the whitish shades of the fruit and bird images had the
shallowest cuts. If more than one color of ink was needed, as in picture 2,
then an additional metal plate was prepared for each color. Picture 1: Japanese-lantern (Physalis
alkekengi) and Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) by Toshio Suda.
Picture 2: Sasanqua camellia (Camellia
sasanqua) and Japanese white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) by Kōji
Ikuta.
Etching is an intaglio printing method in which acid was used to
create cuts in a metal plate. First the plate was entirely coated with an
acid-resistant substance. Next, areas to be cut were traced onto the plate to
remove portions of the acid-resistance substance. Then the plate was dipped
into an acid bath to produce the cuts. Pictures 3 and 4 are examples of
single-color and multi-color etchings, respectively. These prints show much
less tonal variation than the mezzotints above. Greater tonal variation could
be achieved if the acid-resistant substance was sprayed onto the metal plate
to provide only partial coverage. The term aquatint is used instead of
etching when the plate was sprayed instead of coated. In picture 3 this
aquatint technique was used to depict the background. Some of the black lines
in picture 3 were drawn using drypoint engraving. In drypoint engraving a
sharp needle (i.e., dry point) was used to cut the lines of the design into a
metal plate. Picture 3: Unknown flower and domestic duck (Anas platyrhynchos) by
Kenji Ushiku.
Picture 4: Plum (Prunus mume) and Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo)
by Tomiko Matsuno.
Japanese artists first used intaglio
printing in the 1890s for flower-bird art published in picture albums. At this
time Japan was undergoing a process of modernization (i.e., westernization)
and all things western were tried, including intaglio printing. More copies
of a picture album could be made using intaglio printing than woodblock
printing because metal plates deteriorated more slowly than woodblocks. The
thirteen picture albums listed below were intaglio printed. 1 1890 Bijutsu
Gafu (Picture Album of Fine Arts) edited by
Katsugorō Inoue, 13 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used by
artisans as models when decorating their products 2 1891
Banshō Gafu (Picture Album of All Varieties of Natural Phenomenon)
edited by Katsugorō Inoue, 13 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be
used by artisans as models when decorating their products 3 1891 Shiki
Kachō Gafu (Picture Album of Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons)
authored by Gyoshi Kōsoku, 88 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used
for nature appreciation 4 1892 Bijutsu
Chōkoku Gafu (Picture Album of Fine Art Engravings) authored by
Ginkō Adachi, 8 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used by
artisans as models when decorating their products 5 1893
Hyakukō Gafu (Picture Album of 100 Ideas) authored by Kitarō
Hayashi, 83 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used by artisans as
models when decorating their products 6 1895 Kachō
Gafu (Picture Album of Flowers and Birds) authored by Kōsetsu Sakata, 7
single-colored flower-bird pctures to be used for nature appreciation 7 1895 Bijutsu
Kōgei Kachō Gafu (Arts and Crafts Picture Album of Flowers and
Birds) authored by Tokuyama Yamano, 25 single-colored flower-bird pictures to
be used by artisans as models when decorating their products 8 1897 Nihon
Gafu Kachō no Bu (Picture Album of Japan Flower and Bird Section)
authored by Toshinobu Taguchi, 9 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be
used for nature appreciation 9 1897 Shinsen
Kachō Gafu (Picture Album of Newly Selected Flowers and Birds) authored
by Shōgetsu Sakai, 8 multi-colored flower-bird pictures to be used for
nature appreciation 10 1899 Shinan
Shōkoku Manga (Sketches of New Ideas by Shōkoku) authored by
Shōun Yamamoto, 23 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used by
artisans as models when decorating their products 11 1901
Dōbutsu Gafu (Picture Album of Animals) authored by Eisen Ikeda, 6
single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used by artisans as models when
decorating their products 12 1913
Shokkō Gafu (Vocational Picture Album) authored by Kuniteru Rakunan, 13
single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used by art students as models to
practice their drawing 13 1922 Chikubun
Kachō Gafu (Picture Album of Flowers and Birds by Chikubun) authored by
Chikubun Kubota, 13 single-colored flower-bird pictures to be used for art
appreciation Intaglio
printing was first used for individual prints much later (i.e., after World
War II). The speed at which metal plates deteriorated was less of an
advantage because fewer copies of an individual print were made than of
picture albums. In addition, few individual artists had access to the
specialized equipment needed to make an intaglio print until after World War
II when trade with the west increased. To date, the 63 Japanese artists
listed below have made a flower-bird print using intaglio printing. An
asterisk indicates that an artist has made more than 10 intaglio flower-bird
prints.
Lithographic printing was invented in Germany in the
1820s. The word lithography means stone drawing. To make a lithograph the picture design was first drawn on the
surface of a smooth slab of limestonea using a greasy substance
that would readily absorb ink. Ink was then added and a piece of paper was
placed on top of the inked surface. Finally, pressure was applied using a
mechanical press to transfer the ink to paper. To make a multi-colored print
this process was repeated using a different stone slab for each ink color. This
method of printmaking soon became popular with artists because the action of
drawing on the stone was similar to drawing on paper, unlike woodblock or intaglio
printing. a
A light-weight metal plate was sometimes used instead of a heavy
limestone slab.
In Japan artists did not use lithography for their flower-bird prints
until after World War II. It is unclear why it took so long for these artists
to first use this popular western method of printmaking. The forty-one
Japanese artists listed below have made lithographic flower-bird prints. All
but two (asterisked) made full color prints but only four (double asterisked)
each made more than ten flower-bird lithographs.
Picture 5 below is an example of a
single-color lithograph and picture 6 is a multi-colored example. Picture 5: Japanese kadsura (Kadsura japonica) and Japanese white-eye
(Zosterops japonicus) by Takako Manjiyamashita.
Picture 6: Cherry (Prunus
sp.) and mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) by Atsushi Uemura.
2.3 and 2.4 Screenprints and Stencil Prints Screenprinting is thought to have
originated in China during the Song Dynasty but its use for art prints only started
in England in the early 1900s. Stencil printing was used both in ancient
Egypt and China but not until the 1960s in the United States was it used
widely for art prints. In Japan artists began to use screenprinting and
stencil print making for their flower-bird prints after 1950. In this
method of printmaking a template of the picture design was first made using
either a screen or a stencil. The screen template was typically a piece of
mesh fabric (e.g., silk, polyester), or less often a piece of porous paper,
which was covered with a non-porous substance except in areas of the design.
The stencil template was usually a piece of stiff paper into which holes were
cut to reveal the design. To make a print the template was placed on top of a
piece of paper and ink was applied. The ink only passed through areas of the
screen not covered by the non-porous substance or through holes in the
stencil to reproduce the design on the paper below. For multi-colored prints
multiple templates were made, one for each color. For almost all Japanese
flower-bird prints a screen was used instead of a stencil. Mesh screenprints
(e.g., picture 7) often featured strongly graded colora while
color was applied more uniformly on paper screenprints (e.g., picure 8). Picture
9 is one of the very few stencil flower-bird prints
made by Japanese artists. a
Strongly graded color was produced by placing ink at one end of the
mesh screen and drawing it to the other end of the screen using a squeegee.
The color became progressively lightly as the quantity of ink decreased. Picture 7: Crabapple (Malus sp.) and unknown bird by Sadao Satō.
Picture 8: Unknown flower and
domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Masao Ohba.
Picture 9: Unknown flower and
domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Kichiemon Okamura.
The 31 Japanese artists
listed below have made either a flower-bird stencil print (double asterisk)
or screenprint. Asterisked artists have made more than ten flower-bird
screenprints.
2.5 and 2.6 Digital Prints and Giclee Prints
In digital printmaking the picture design is first created using a
drawing program that was written for the digital computer. Adobe Photoshop
and Adobe Illustrator are the two drawing programs used most often to produce
digital flower-bird prints. These two
programs were made available for use in 1987. The digital picture is then
sent electronically to a mechanical printing device which makes a paper copy
of the digital design by adding ink to paper. The word giclee comes from a french word
meaning to squirt or spray. A giclee print is made by spraying ink onto a
piece of paper using a high-quality ink-jet printer. The first giclee prints
were made in the late 1980s. Both giclee printing and digital printing use a
mechanical device to print a paper copy of a digital image. In digital
print-making this digital image is created using a computer program but in
giclee printing the digital image is a digital photograph of art that was not
necessarily created using a computer program. Instead, the picture could be
made using any artistic method, including painting. Giclee printing uses
high-quality paper, ink and printing device while digital printing does not
necessarily use the same high-quality tools.
Japanese artists began making both digital
and giclee flower-bird prints soon after the technology was made available.
However, only the 12 artists listed below have chosen to use these printing
methods presumably because they require specialized equipment and knowledge.
A single asterisk indicates that the artist has made more than ten
flower-bird prints using these methods (double asterisk for giclee artists).
Picture 10 below is an
example of digital Japanese flower-bird print and picture 11 is a giclee
Japanese flower-bird print. Picture 10: White spider-lily (Lycoris
albiflora) and domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Masahiko Saga.
Picture 11: Japanese persimmon (Diospyros
kaki) and Japanese white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) by Hitomi
Tsumura.
2.7 and 2.8 Linocut and Eraser Prints Linocut printing was first used to make
art prints in Europe in the early 1900s. In this form of printing the
outline of the picture’s subjects is created on a piece of linoleum by cutting
away unwanted surrounding areas leaving the outline raised in relief above
the linoleum surface. Ink is applied to the raised outline, followed by a
piece of paper, and the back of the paper is rubbed to transfer ink to paper.
To create a multi-colored print the piece of paper is placed sequentially on
a series of linoleum pieces each carved and inked differently to show a
particular portion of the picture design. This method of printing is
identical to woodblock printing except that linoleum is used instead of wood.
Linoleum is easier to cut than wood and is available in larger widths. Eraser
printing uses a rubber eraser in place of linoleum to make the picture
outline. The origin and history of eraser printing is unclear. In Japan only two artists (Raifu Hirota
and Takayoshi
Itō) have made linocut flower-bird prints and only one artist (Yasuko
Aoyama) has made eraser flower-bird prints. Picture 12 is an example of a linocut
flower-bird print and picture 13 is an eraser flower-bird print. Picture 12: Cactus (Family Cactaceae) and
turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) by Takayoshi Itō.
Picture
13: Florist’s cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) and oriental turtle-dove
(Streptopelia orientalis) by Yasuko Aoyama.
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