The Art of Printmaking By Loo Foh Sang 认识版画艺术-卢伙生

Nature Collection - Loo Foh Sang 

Monoprint

The Art of Printmaking

By Loo Foh Sang

 

Printmaking is an art of indirectness and repetition. It involves the use of various tools and materials, in the three stages of “composing”, “plate-making” and “printing” to convey the artist’s expression. Each stage is equally important and requires a scientific way of thinking. Systematic and structured planning is the key for printmaking from the very first idea to the end product.

 

The Frenchmen call it Gravure or Estampe, the Germans call it Druckplatte,  the English refer to it as Print, and the Americans call it Graphic Art. But I think the Chinese term “版画” (ban hua) or “drawing of the plate”, best describes the essence of printmaking.

 

Parisian Sunset 巴黎之黄昏

Engraving + Etching + Aquatint 推刀法 + 腐蚀法 + 飞尘法

Printmaking can be classified into four categories: relief prints, intaglio prints, planographic prints, and screen prints. Relief prints include woodcut, wood engraving, linocut, collagraph, object print, and others. Intaglio prints mainly use metal plates made from materials such as copper, zinc and alloys, among others. Planographic prints or lithography create images via a chemical reaction on fine-grain metal or limestone. Today’s most widely-used printmaking technique, photo-screen printing, uses photo emulsion technique on stone, metal or silk under ultraviolet light exposure to make prints.

 

It should be stressed that multiple copies of prints on paper printed from a single plate may not be identical. This is due to the fact that printing is done manually; the pressure of the printing press, the colour intensity applied and the overlay accuracy will inevitably differ, resulting in slight variations to the impressions. As long as the body of prints produced portrays a similar feeling, they are considered as the same work.

 

Sailing in the Universe 宇宙之旅

Intaglio & Relief Monoprint 凹凸版单板

Since printmaking enables the artwork to be produced as multiple copies of the same edition, can the artist or print publisher produce unlimited number of prints from a single plate? Obviously no. The common practice for an Artist’s Proofs is to have 10 percent of an edition that is reserved for the artist. These proofs are identical in term of impression and outside the regular edition, they are marked A.P. or A/P: in French Epreuve d’ Artiste, marked as e. a. or E/A. Trial proofs are early working proofs with experimental changes in colour or wiping to visualise various effects. Hence, if the artist, or upon the collector’s demand, has determined on an edition of say 100, the A/P shall be about 10 editions, the printed editions as a whole shall be limited to 110 copies. The edition numbering shall accurately show their position in the edition as 1/100, 2/100 …100/100. Bound by professional ethics to maintain trust and integrity of the artist and confidence of the collector, the printed copies should not exceed this maximum limit. After an edition has been printed, the plate or block may be defaced with cancellation marks. Alternatively, it may be left dried with colour printing ink as it has been printed and coated with clear lacquer for keeping, academic research purpose or display in museums.

 认识版画艺术

文：卢伙生

 

版画最主要的特性为“间接性”和“复数性”，必须使用许多工具材料，再经“构思” 、“制版”、“印刷”三阶段，才能完全表现心像。过程复杂，每一阶段环环相扣。从构思到完成作品，需要周详计划，才能印出好作品。因此，版画可谓是一项具有科学思维、计划一贯、周密的工作。

 

版画，法语为Gravure或Estampe，英语为Print，德语为Druckplatte,美语为Graphic Art，都与Print同义。然，最能完善表达其意的，实际上是中国文字的“版画” 二字。

 

版画可分四种形式：凸、凹、平和孔版。凸版包括木刻版画（木纹木板、木口木板）、橡皮版画、纸版版画等。凹版则以金属（铜、锌、合金等）版画为主。平版有石版画和已加工的金属版画（平版印刷用）等。孔版包括纸孔版画和娟印版画。

 

在此需特别一提的是，版画作品是自原版制成后经由压印，印制在纸张版面，同时要能印制两张以上相同的作品，才称为版画。然，在制作过程中，压力大小、颜色浓淡及套印的精准程度都会影响成品。因此，没有两张绝对相同的作品。只要版画成品具有同出一辙的感觉，就是版画了。

 

版画具“复数性”，是否意味创作者或印刷师可以无限量地印制作品呢？当然不是。

 

版画原作，根据一般国际惯例，称为“试版” （英语：Artist Proof,简写A.P. 或A/P，法语: Epreuve d’Artiste，简写成e.a. 或E/A）; 此乃一版画，自酝酿期至作品完成，会经过无数的实验挫折、修改、复印，最后完成的决定性作品就叫“试版”。

 

过后，由创作者本身，或配合画商要求，决定整套版（Edition）的数目。例如，整套版的决定张数为100，就在印出的100张版画上，依次标明1/100 、 2/100 … 9/100 、100/100的数目记号。如此，收藏者就知道这是限定数目的版画原作，与海报或一般印刷品不同。印好决定的数量后，就会毁掉原版，确保不再印刷。或者，会留住原版色彩，加两层次的透明油质，就不能再印刷。此原版，可放在博物馆保存展出，也可给年轻创作者作为研究。一般上，“试版”是由作者保留，其张数与整套版的张数比例是1：10，即整套版若为100张，则可有10张左右·的试版。如此，一原版可印的张数仅限110张。在艺术道德上，不该印制超过此数目。