Rubbing: Apparently the most common method for Far Eastern printing on paper at all times.These were printed by putting the paper/fabric on a table or other flat surface with the block on top, and pressing or hammering the back of the block. Stamping: Used for many fabrics and most early European woodcuts (1400–40).There are three methods of printing to consider: In Europe, a variety of woods including boxwood and several nut and fruit woods like pear or cherry were commonly used in Japan, the wood of the cherry species Prunus serrulata was preferred. As a relief method, it is only necessary to ink the block and bring it into firm and even contact with the paper or cloth to achieve an acceptable print. In mixed white-line (below) and normal woodcut (above).Ĭompared to intaglio techniques like etching and engraving, only low pressure is required to print. The Crab that played with the sea, Woodcut by Rudyard Kipling illustrating one of his Just So Stories (1902). In the West, many artists used the easier technique of linocut instead. In Japan, this movement was called sōsaku-hanga ( 創作版画, creative prints), as opposed to shin-hanga ( 新版画, new prints), a movement that retained traditional methods. In both Europe and East Asia in the early 20th century, some artists began to do the whole process themselves. Other methods were used, including tracing. Either way, the artist's drawing was destroyed during the cutting process. Either the drawing would be made directly onto the block (often whitened first), or a drawing on paper was glued to the block.
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There were various methods of transferring the artist's drawn design onto the block for the cutter to follow.
![moku hanga printmaking 1800s moku hanga printmaking 1800s](http://artemisgalleryme.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Forged-Pagoda-Dogwood-scaled.jpg)
The division of labour had the advantage that a trained artist could adapt to the medium relatively easily, without needing to learn the use of woodworking tools. This is why woodcuts are sometimes described by museums or books as "designed by" rather than "by" an artist but most authorities do not use this distinction. There were further specialists who made the blank blocks. The formschneider in turn handed the block on to specialist printers. Among these, the best-known are the 16th-century Hieronymus Andreae (who also used "Formschneider" as his surname), Hans Lützelburger and Jost de Negker, all of whom ran workshops and also operated as printers and publishers. In both Europe and East Asia, traditionally the artist only designed the woodcut, and the block-carving was left to specialist craftsmen, called formschneider or block-cutters, some of whom became well known in their own right. īlock Cutter at Work woodcut by Jost Amman, 1568 Since its origins in China, the practice of woodcut has spread around the world from Europe to other parts of Asia, and to Latin America. A single-sheet woodcut is a woodcut presented as a single image or print, as opposed to a book illustration. They became popular in Europe during the latter half of the 15th century. The art of carving the woodcut can be called "xylography", but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and "xylographic" are used in connection with block books, which are small books containing text and images in the same block. Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (using a different block for each color). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller ( brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas.
![moku hanga printmaking 1800s moku hanga printmaking 1800s](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/54/20/a3/5420a3b67ba4097cb1b0e3e2421973d3.jpg)
The block is cut along the wood grain (unlike wood engraving, where the block is cut in the end-grain). Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood-typically with gouges-leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking.
![moku hanga printmaking 1800s moku hanga printmaking 1800s](http://www.ukiyoe-gallery.com/ukiyoe/sf01bkb.jpg)
1496–98 by Albrecht Dürer, depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse