黑料不打烊

A survey of British printmaking from over the last two centuries From Copper Wood and Stone includes work from Brockhurst to Chadwick, Wilkie to Pasmore in an exhibition in association with John Anderson.

'From copper, wood and stone. Artists through the centuries have utilized these materials as a means of producing original prints. Copper forms the printing surface in the intaglio processes of etching, drypoint, line engraving and mezzotint. The relief method of printing requires a block of relatively softwood such as pear, sycamore, cherry or beech to create woodcuts and wood engravings. Whilst the planographic method of lithography traditionally employed a block of limestone but more commonly today employs sheets of zinc. The present exhibition attempts to celebrate the rich diversity and exciting developments in all forms of original printmaking in Britain over the last two centuries.

The revival in British printmaking has its roots in the formation of the Etching Club in 1838 and gained momentum with the foundation of the Society of Painter-Etchers in 1880. The early twentieth century saw advances in original lithography and the founding of the Senefelder Club. New printmaking techniques were introduced such as linocut and woodcutting in the Japanese style and following the First World War, wood engraving underwent a revival particularly in the field of book illustration.

Etchings enjoyed enormous popularity during the 1920s and major collections were formed by museums in Britain and abroad as well as by private collectors. Specialist dealers and publications such as Fine Prints of the Year and the Print Collectors Quarterly fuelled the demand. Etchings also became the subject of speculation and were kept as investments and used as securities, particularly high prices being obtained between 1925 and 1927. The major printmakers became celebrities and their exhibitions sold out in days, indeed Allan Gwynne-Jones recorded that the entire edition of his etching Barns and Pond, Evening, was sold out in fifteen minutes. In a relatively short period of time original printmaking had risen from the depths of obscurity to the forefront of the art market.

Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and post-war austerity, there was a decline in printmaking but by the 1950s a revival was again underway. From the 1960s British printmaking grew rapidly with the expansion of professional printing studios such as Kelpra and Curwen Presses. Pioneering printmakers such as Eduardo Paolozzi explored the boundaries between art, technology and popular culture and screenprinting was to become the dominant print process of the latter quarter of the twentieth century with many major artists choosing this medium.'