Works on Paper
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Glossary Terms |
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| Abraded Having a worn or rubbed appearance as a result of mechanical or chemical action. An abrasion is a localized abraded area. |
| Abstract
Art Not realistic art, in that it does not depict objects in the natural world, but instead uses color and form in a non-representational way, though the intention is often originally based on an actual subject, place, or feeling. |
| Abstract
Expressionism A 1940's New York painting movement based on Abstract Art. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and also the one that put New York City at the center of the art world, a role formerly filled by Paris. Major players included Alexander Calder, Williem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko among many others. |
| Acrylic Refers to a class of synthetic polymeric resins used extensively in emulsion paints, varnishes and adhesive formulations. Acrylic paints first became available commercially in the 1950s, and are popular in part they are water soluble when wet, but water resistant when dry, and thus easy to use. In sheet form the acrylic resins bear trade names such as Plexiglas, Lucite and Perspex, and can be used as an alternative the glass in framing, construction, etc.... |
| Aesthetic The science of the "beautiful" in a work of art. The aesthetic appeal of a work of art is defined by the visual, social, ethical, moral, and contemporary standards of society. |
| Acidic In paper, an unstable state where the molecular structure of the paper breaks down, causing discoloration and weakening of the sheet and possible damage to adjoining papers or boards. |
| Acid
Free A paper product having a pH level of 7 or above. In contemporary conservation framing, acid free foam core backing and acid free rag mats should be used to protect the art. |
| Aging The continuous action of atmospheric components- oxygen, moisture, light, temperature - on materials and structures, leading to deterioration. |
| Alkaline
Buffer An additive used in modern paper-making processes and conservation treatments that will raise the pH to an acid-free level. |
| AP (Artist's Proof) A designation for prints pulled outside the regular edition for artist approval and personal use. These prints are marked "AP","P/A" or "EA", numbered separately and often represent 10% of the total edition. |
| Aquatint In Intaglio printing technique, involving areas of tone rather than lines. A ground is used that is not completely impervious to acid, so that after acid-biting, a pebbly or granular texture is produced on the metal plate. |
| Archival An archival material should have a neutral or slightly alkaline pH; it should also have good aging properties. |
| Art
Deco During the 1920s and 30s, artists used decorative motifs derived from French, African, Aztec, Chinese, and Egyptian cultures as well as Machine Age or streamline technology such as modern aviation, electric lighting, the radio, the ocean liner and the skyscraper. Major artists include Josef Hoffman, Louis Icart, and Erte, among others. |
| Art
Nouveau An international and individual style which evolved during the 1890s which used asymmetrical decorative elements derived from objects found in nature. Artists include Gustav Klimt and Louis Comfort Tiffany |
| Artist's
Proof (AP) A designation for prints pulled outside the regular edition for artist approval and personal use. These prints are marked "AP","P/A" or "EA", numbered separately and often represent 10% of the total edition. |
| Ashcan
School A group of American painters and illustrators of the early 20th century, often known as "The Eight." best known for works portraying scenes of daily life in New York's poorer neighborhoods. |
| Avant
Garde A term describing people or art that is experimental or innovative. It pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status-quo. |
| Barbizon
School French landscape artists who worked near Barbizon, France between 1835 and 1870. The rural setting moved them to abandon formalism and to draw inspiration directly from nature. Leaders of this movement towards realism were Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-François Millet and Charles-François Daubigny. |
| Bauhaus A design school founded by Walter Gropius which operated in Germany from 1919 to 1933. The Bauhaus attempted to achieve a reconciliation between the aesthetics of design and the more commercial demands of industrial mass production. The Bauhaus School had a major impact on art and architecture trends in Western Europe, the United States and Tel Aviv, in the decades following its demise, as many of the artists involved fled, or were exiled, by the Nazi regime. |
| Bed (Of a Press) Part of a press on which the plate or block rests during printing. In a lithographic press, the bed is a mobile element which transports stone to a position beneath the scraper or roller. |
| Beaux-arts Refers to number of fine art schools in Paris, particularly Académie des Beaux-Arts. The Acadamie stressed the necessity of formal training and focused heaving on Greek and Roman traditions. |
| Beveling The edges of intaglio plates are beveled to ensure that they do not cut the paper in the press. A true bevel is only necessary if the plate is more than a millimeter thick, otherwise a light rounding off is sufficient. In framing, mats are often cut with a bevel to assure a clean cut, and for aesthetic purposes. |
| Biting The process of (1) corroding a design on a metal plate in either intaglio (e.g. etching) or relief (e.g. line block); and (2) fixing the image on the stone or metal plate in lithography. |
| Blanching A pale discoloration on a surface as a result of superficial water or solvent penetration. |
| Block The wooden element which is printed in making woodcuts and wood engraving. The word also applies to typographical printing elements. |
| Blurring An impression will receive a blurred appearance if the paper and the inked roller are not properly registered or aligned during printing. |
| Bon
a Tirer Literally means "Good to print:" It is generally assigned on a trial proof by the artist when he wishes to indicate to the professional printer that a satisfactory state of his print has been obtained. |
| Bordeaux
Etch First introduced into printmaking by Cedric Green, is a copper sulphate solution designed for etching zinc plates quickly and safely. |
| Buckling A structural failure caused by high compressive stresses. This often results in generalized lifting or cleavage of paint from a canvas, or of paper from its backing in a frame, giving it a wrinkled appearance. |
| Burin
Engraving Also known as line engraving. |
| Burnishing The operation of smoothing out the grain in the mezzotint process with the aid of the burnisher, a polished steel tool with a large round head. It is also used on metal plates where corrections are required. |
| Burr (1) A small tool used in metal work (2)The cutting action of a tool across a metal plate causes rough ridges known as "burr" to be thrown up on either side of the incision. |
| Calipers A tool resembling a compass used to mark out a design, and in making corrections on an intaglio plate. |
| Canceled
Plate When the printing of a limited edition of prints has been completed, it is usual to deface the plates, stones, etc., to ensure that there is no possibility of their being reprinted. Sometimes, the printer will print the canceled or defaced plate as proof that it has been destroyed. |
| Chiaroscuro The dramatic use of light and shadow to create a mood or a focal point in a painting. |
| Chisel A flat tool used in woodcutting. It has a beveled edge and is either pushed manually, or knocked with a mallet, over large areas to be cut away, i.e. those between the edges of the design and the sides of the block. |
| Chroma-lithography Loosely, the printing of lithographs in color. |
| Cleaning As used in conservation, refers to application of solvents and other liquids to remove discolored surface coatings, as well as to retouchings and restorations not part of the original work. |
| Cliche
Verre A process of planographic printing, the artist draws a design with a needle on a glass plate coated with an opaque ground from which positive photographic prints are made on sensitized paper. |
| Clipping Reducing the margins of a print by cutting the paper, or covering with a mat board. |
| Collage A grouping of different textured materials or objects that are glued together. |
| Collagraph The print resulting from a collage of materials glued together on a base and printed as a combined relief and intaglio plate. |
| Color
Block Color blocks (or tone blocks) print the various colors in a color or chiaroscuro woodcut. The key block prints the outline. |
| Conservation The restoration of works of art with the aim to correct damage caused by improper handling, excessive exposure to light, smoke, dust, humidity or aridity, and contact with liquid or any other destructive substance. |
| Conservator A person specially trained in the preventive care and maintenance as well as restoration of works of art and museum objects. |
| Construction
Intaglio-Type Pieces of photopolymer film are added or constructed onto a plate where the final print shows the delineation of each constructed piece. A common Intaglio-Type plate re-working technique. |
| Contemporary
Art Generally defined as art which was produced with in the past fifty years. the twentieth century. |
| Contemporary
Printmaking An approach to printmaking that integrates computer imagery and technology with traditional painting and drawing skills. It is a user friendly approach to printmaking that offers the intaglio printmaker a totally new realm of creative image making. |
| Copper The most important metal used in engraving. It is supple to work, yet strong enough to endure the press, receptive to ink and wipes clean without leaving traces. In printmaking, plates are often "copper faced", meaning a very thin layer of copper is applied onto a steel plate through electrolysis. Additionally, the metal salt Copper Sulphate is commonly used as a saline in the etching process. |
| Collograph
Marks Dried acrylic marks are so hard wearing on a plate that they can be used as a raised printing surface. This is often combined with intaglio marks or Intaglio-Type techniques which have incised marks on the plate through etching or mechanical action. |
| Corrosive
Agents An acid, alkali, or salt used to clean and bite the various fabrics, papers, stones and metals used in printmaking. |
| Counter
Proof An impression taken from a freshly printed sheet onto another piece of paper. It shows the design in the same direction as that on the plate, stone or block-- rather than the reverse image that usually appears on the paper. The artist may use it as an editing device to asses possible corrections before the final run. |
| Coverage The ability of an ink to cover and absorb into a surface as regards the amount required for printing. It is relative to the receptivity of the support to the ink. |
| Cracks In grounds, paint layers, surface coatings (of paintings), the term designates a system of fissures that develop with the aging of the materials, or as a result of environmental action (expansion, contraction of the support), or a combination of both. |
| Crayon Various types of crayon are used in printmaking. The lithographic crayon is not your basic Crayola-- it is less waxy and much greasier, either chemically or naturally, so that it transfers easily during printing. In lieu of an eraser, artists use a corrective crayon, which masks mistakes and blemishes. Sometimes, artists will hand-sign prints in crayon-- the signature may be in black, blue or even red. |
| Crisco
Lift A very detailed lift process in which positive marks are established with melted vegetable fat, coated with floor varnish, aquatinted, and then etched (developed by Friedhard Kiekeben and Susan Groce in 1998) |
| Cubism A revolutionary art movement between 1907 and 1914 in which natural forms were reduced to geometric shapes. Leading figures were Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. |
| Dabber A dabber is half moon shaped, stuffed with cotton and covered with silk and is used for inking the incisions on an intaglio plate and the relief areas on a wood block. |
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Dampening Before printing, paper is dampened or moistened with water to increase its flexibility in the press and it's receptivity of the ink. |
| Deacidify To chemically stabilize acidic paper; can be either an aqueous or non-aqueous treatment. |
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Deckled Edge The rough uneven edge on handmade paper and on some good quality machine made paper which has been left untrimmed for aesthetic purposes. |
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Disintegration A printing error which occurs if excessively dampened paper is put in the press. Because of the excess moisture, it attaches to the plate and disintegrates. |
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Dotter Manner A method of engraving dating from the fifteenth century. Small round holes were stamped with a punch and hammer into a metal plate which was then inked and printed as a relief block or metalcut. |
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Dot Work A loose description of the surface of any metal plate, either relief (see: dotted manner) or intaglio, which has been dotted or grained in a manner such as to create an impression of tone when printed. |
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Double Image A printing error which causes the image of the print to appear twice. It occurs when paper is not properly secured causing it to fall out of alignment during one or, more likely, two passages through the press. |
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Drypoint A method of intaglio engraving on metal. |
| Edition In printmaking, an edition is the total number of prints struck from one plate (or other printing surface), usually at the same point in time. The edition may be limited to a certain number, or it can be an open edition, limited only by the number that can be sold or produced before the plate wears down. Editions can also be unnumbered or numbered. Then latter are often hand-signed by the artist and numbered as say 77/100 to show the unique number of that impression and the total edition size. |
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Embossing A printmaking method in which a design is impressed into the verso (back) of paper without the use of any ink, creating a heavily raised surface area on the reverse (front) side. |
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Engraver One who engraves, the specialist who engraved on the stone in lithographic engraving: a technique which was popular when lithography had a larger industry than it has today. |
| Engraving A type of intaglio printing in which the plate is cut with a tool called a "graver" or "burin," which cuts a V-shaped trough. |
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Environmental Factors In the context of conservation and deterioration studies, these terms refer to physical effects of the environment, such as humidity, temperature, light, pollutants of the atmosphere etc... on work on paper. |
| Etcher An engraver who practices the etching process. |
| Etching Etching is form of intaglio printing in which the lines of an image are drawn on a metal plate with a metal line making tool and then bitten by acid. Unlike engraving which requires special skill in metalworking, etching is relatively easy to learn for an artist trained in drawing.. |
| Etching
"A La Plume" A method of intaglio printing in which a pen and ink drawing is made on a clean metal plate. When this has dried, the entire surface is covered with a light aquatint ground and placed in an acid bath removing the ground where it is to be found over the ink. |
| Ex-Libris An owner's mark placed in a book, usually on the inside of the cover. Engraved ones have been used since the fifteenth century. |
| Expansion The result of change in the dimension of a sheet of paper due to excess humidity; more pronounced across the grain than with it. |
| Expressionism A concept of painting in which traditional adherence to realism and proportion is overridden by the intensity of an artist's emotional response to the subject. |
| Facsimile A print which is an exact copy of an original design, i.e. a "reproductive" print as opposed to an "original" print. |
| Fading The gradation of a tint in an imperceptible manner. |
| False
Margins A print may not have normal margins for a variety of reasons. In this case, it may be mounted on a larger sheet of paper which provides it with false margins. |
| Fecit Sometimes found after the name of the engraver or maker at the base of a print, meaning the artist whose name it follows "made it." |
| Fiber
Fill Utilizing paper pulp to complete losses in a sheet of paper. |
| Fillet A small ornamental wood molding put on the inside of the matting of a framed work of art. |
| First
Edition The earliest, first printing run of a print or book. |
| Flaking Loss of small islands of paint, or other surface material, or even ground layers following cleavage, blistering, or buckling action in paintings or similar works of art. |
| Flattening A restoration procedure involving controlled humidification and controlled drying under pressure. |
| Format Plates, blocks and screens, sheets of paper, film and negatives often have recurrent formats, which means that the dimensions of a print frequently recur. |
| Foxing The discoloration of paper or other surfaces by brownish or greyish spots, believed to be caused by micro-organisms (mould) developing rapidly at high humidities under stagnant conditions. |
| Frontispiece In the oldest sense of the word, the frontispiece refers to an ornate title page in a book; more recently; it has applied to an illustration placed before or opposite the title page. |
| Frottage Textural rubbing on paper done with crayon, oil or pencil. |
| Gesso An underpainting medium consisting of glue, plaster of paris, or chalk and water. Gesso is used to size the canvas and prepare the surface for painting. |
| Glass
Prints The "cliche-verre" is sometimes translated as a glass print. Completely distinct from this are certain decorative items produced in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, which are also often termed "glass prints." |
| Gouache A watercolor medium which is mixed with finely ground white pigment to provide an opaque paint. |
| Gouge A tool used for cutting wood and linoleum, specifically to clear away larger spaces of the block. |
| Gradation Gradual strengthening, or weakening, of a tone. |
| Grain A loose description of aquatint ground and of its resulting effect on an impression, and of any other printing element or impression with dots or grain on its surface. |
| Hand-Coloring Hand-colored prints have an old tradition and must be distinguished from those printed in color (color printing). Coloring is done in watercolor or gouache, with either a brush or a stencil cut to allow ink through over the necessary areas directly onto the impression. |
| Hatching Parallel lines which are cut close together in an engraving with the aim of giving an effect, en masse, of a grey or dark tone. |
| HC
(Hors De Commerce) French for "not for trade" or "outside of sale". A designation for prints pulled outside of the regular edition for the personal use of the publisher or artist, normally limited to 5 or 6. The print is marked "HC" instead of being numbered. |
| Humidity See also relative humidity. The absolute humidity is the content of water vapor in the air measured as grams per cubic meter or in equivalent terms. |
| Imitation A reproduction of an original drawing or of a particular artist's style. |
| Impasto The thick textured build up of a picture's surface which is created through the repeated applications of paint. |
| Impression In printing terminology, an impression is any print taken from a particular block, plate, etc. |
| Impressit
("Imp") Indicates the name of a printer. The artist has occasionally acted in this capacity as well as making the design. |
| Imprint The imprint obtained by making a mould of a relief block or an intaglio plate (in, respectively, intaglio and relief). |
| Incandescent As used in lighting, refers to the type of lamp with a tungsten filament. The light produced is a continuous spectrum in the visible region, and is on the 'warm' side, i.e. about 2,500-3,0000 Kelvin. |
| Initial A large typographical letter appearing at the beginning of texts. It can be specially engraved and decorated with figures or various ornaments. |
| Ink Colored liquid used for writing, drawing and printing. It can be thick in texture, or even solid, in which case it is dissolved. A large number of different types of ink are used in printmaking. Drawing inks are used for preparatory designs on blocks and plates. |
| Inking The process of putting the required amount of ink onto the necessary parts of the printing element. It is applied with either a roller or a dabber; on an intaglio plate pieces of muslin or a brush are also used. |
| Inpainting
(Retouching) Introduction of new paint into areas of loss in an original construction. |
| Invenit Accompanies the name of the artist of the original design on a print. |
| Intaglio Printing processes in which the ink goes beneath the original printing matrix or surface. For example, an image may be incised or etched into a metal plate using a variety of techniques and tools. Ink is then applied to recessed areas of the printing plate by wiping or dabbing. Intaglio techniques include: engraving, etching, mezzotint, aquatint, chine-collé and drypoint. |
| Japon
Paper A good quality paper which is lightly translucent and extremely resistant. It is used for fine impressions. Imitation Japanese paper also exists. |
| Japanese
Woodcuts A Japanese technique of woodcutting. |
| Key
Stone The stone on which the original drawing is made in lithography. It can be copied for transfer impressions in order to avoid damage which may be caused by over-handling. |
| Key
Transfer The transfer of each color from a transparency to a block for printing in several colours. The line which forms the outline of each color on the transfer can be called the key line. |
| Laid
Paper A type of hand-made paper which shows the pattern of the vertical wire-marks and the horizontal connecting chain-lines of the wires in the papermaker's mould. |
| Lettering All printed inscriptions relating to the design represented in a print. |
| Light
Staining A print which has been exposed to the light, over a long period, without any protection, becomes dusty and dirty and acquires a stained appearance. |
| Line This refers to any line as it appears on an impression, whether taken from the inked or uninked parts of the printing element; as well as to the incisions made in a plate or block, and the marks on a lithographic stone. |
| Line
Engraving The process of adhering a reinforcing fabric to the back of a canvas painting, giving it new strength and durability. |
| Linocut An abbreviation of linoleum cut. |
| Lithograph A process in which proofs are pulled on a special litho-press from a flat surface (often stone) that is chemically sensitized to take ink. |
| Lithographic
Engraving A polished lithographic stone can also be used for etching. The surface is covered with liquid ground such as is used for intaglio printing. After drying, the drawing is done with a blunt needle. A dilute acid is used as a mordant. |
| Lithographic
Mezzotint A method which is akin to mezzotint in metal engraving although it does not attain quite the same quality. Various methods of working the stone exist of which the aim is to create the white areas by scraping away parts of a specially prepared black background. |
| Lithographic
Wash A process used in lithography for obtaining the effects of a wash drawing. It has also been known as a lithotint. It must not be confused with a lithographic aquatint in which the grain is more marked. The color is applied with a dabber. |
| Lithography The process of making a drawing on a flat stone for the purpose of making a print. An image is drawn on a stone with a greasy ink; the stone is dampened and pressed with moist paper. Stone and paper are passed through a flat-bed scraper press. |
| Margin The area of free space around an image on a piece of paper. |
| Mark A particular sign or symbol serving as an artist's signature on a print. |
| Mat A mat is a board made of paper or cotton that surrounds a work of art, photograph or document used for decoration as well as providing protection for the piece and structure for framing. |
| Mezzotint The only intaglio technique that proceeds from dark to light rather than the opposite. The surface of a metal plate is abraded with an instrument called a rocker. An image is produced by smoothing out areas of the plate. |
| Mixograph
(Mixography) Casting a copper printing plate from a high-relief collage or maquette made up of various materials. The plate used is made up of a thick, resilent material that absorbs ink and creates a frescolike quality. |
| Monogram A combination of letters, usually initials of a proper name, or an abbreviated signature. |
| Monoprint A one-of-a-kind print made by painting on a sheet of glass or metal, and transferring the still-wet painting to a sheet of paper. |
| Monotype A unique image printed from a polished plate, glass, metal, or other material painted with ink. |
| Montage The production of a composite image made from various elements as, for example, in the combination of photographic positives or negatives with drawn stencils in screenprinting. |
| Mould A mould is a kind of tray consisting of crossed wires in a wooden frame over which paper pulp is spread. A mould is made of a block or plate in reverse to the original when making a replica of it (stereotype). The mould used for casting type is known as a matrix. |
| Mildew
(Mold) A large group of small fungi, the vegetative structures of which invade many organic substances such as paper. |
| Mount The process of adhering paper to a flat surface. |
| Mural A continuous painting which is designed to fill a wall or other architectural area. |
| Needle A pointy tool used to scratch the surface of a plate usually made of metal or stone. |
| Negative A " negative " impression produces white areas in place of the black, or vice versa, e.g. an impression taken from an intaglio plate which has been inked with a roller. |
| Niello A niello is the incrustation of an engraved silver or gold plate with a metallic black enamel. |
| Numbering Impressions taken from a particular edition are sometimes numbered. The numbers are written at the base: the number of the impression within the edition is followed by the total number printed. |
| Offset Printing A very common printing method, where the printed material does not receive ink directly from a printing plate but from an intermediary blanket that receives the ink from the plate and then transfers it to the paper. |
| Oil
Paint A powdered pigment which is held together with oil, usually linseed oil. |
| Original The original is the one from which a copy or tracing is made. |
| Original
Print A print made from the original plate, block, stone, screen, etc. which the artist has created and printed from himself. |
| Overpaint The covering over of large original areas in restoration, as opposed to the limiting of retouches (in painting) to areas of damage. |
| Overprinting There are three methods of color printing: by juxtaposing the colors; by mixing the colors before printing; and by printing the colors on top of each other, i.e. overprinting, to obtain gradations of tone and different colors. |
| Page Each side of a leaf in a book is a page, whether printed or not. |
| Pagination Numeration of the pages in a book. |
| Paper Papermaking involves mixing vegetable fibers and water into a paste which is then drained, pressed and dried in a mould until a sheet is formed. |
| Paper
Conservator An individual professionally trained to preserve and restore paper. |
| Patina A surface formation on an object, e.g corrosion, oxidation, discoloration, which may be either natural in origin, or artificially applied (for aesthetic reasons) by the artist or craftsman. |
| Photographic
Processes Photographic processes are used to create an image on sensitized paper, either by means of a negative, or by exposing the paper directly to the light, having previously blocked out parts of it with various objects. |
| Plate
Signed Prints in which the artist's signature is put onto the original printing matrix or surface, and then transferred to the print through the same process as the rest of the design. |
| Photogravure An intaglio printmaking process, in which gelatin is used to transfer an image from a black and white photograph negative to a copper printing plate. The margins and non-printing areas of the plate are covered with acid resist before the plate is paced in an acid bath. Photogravure registers an extraordinary variety of tones. Unlike half-tone processes which merely vary the size of dots, the actual quantity and depth of ink wells are varied in a photogravure plate and are often blended into a smooth tone by the printing process. |
| Pochoir A stencil process used to add color to black and white prints or to make multicolor prints. It is commonly used to apply color to reproductions and for illustrating fine and limited edition books. |
| Pop
Art A style derived from commercial art forms and characterized by larger than life replicas of items from mass culture. |
| Portfolio A pliable case, made of thick cardboard, frequently covered with leather or cloth, in which prints are presented, stored, and conserved. |
| Positive
and Negative Photographic terminology is sometimes applied to prints; i.e. a positive design is black on white, a negative one is white on black. |
| Poupee
A La The French term used for a method of coloring an intaglio plate by hand. Contrary to usual methods of color printing, the different colours are all applied on one plate with the aid of a stump of rag, known as a "poupee" (or dolly). |
| Preparatory
Drawing Before making an engraving, woodcut, etc., a preparatory drawing is made on the surface of the printing element. It may be a tracing or transfer of the original design, or it may be an original itself, done with pencil, ink, chalk or other medium. |
| Pressure The pressure of an intaglio plate on the paper when pulled through the press results in the formation of a plate mark. In French, a distinction is made between the plate mark on the recto of the paper ("cuvette") and that on the verso (" foulage "). |
| Pricking A method of transferring a drawing, by pricking with a fine needle the outlines of the design, leaving small holes which may be pounced. This involves shaking powdered red chalk over the dots so that a trace of the design is obtained on the paper or plate. |
| Printing
Press Three primary printing presses are a Typographic Press, Intaglio Press and Lithographic Press (Planographic Press). A manual press is generally used by artists making their own prints, distinguished from mechanical presses used in industry. |
| Print The image obtained from any printing element. |
| Printing The action of making a print on a support, whether it be of paper or of any other material, from a block, plate or stone or through a screen, in any of the printmaking procedures. |
| Printing
Element The part which is inked and produces the impression when printed, i.e. the block, plate, stone or screen. |
| Proof In a general sense, this word has been used to indicate any impression of a print. Strictly speaking, it should be limited to those impressions pulled by the artist to prove or test his work, whether before or after completion of the block, plate, etc. |
| Proof
(Before Lettering) An impression taken before the lettering (dedication, title, names of artist, engraver, etc.) has been engraved. |
| Proof
(With Lettering) The lettering comprises all the writing underneath or above the design on the plate, block, etc. Impressions are sometimes taken on intaglio plates with scratched letters before the lettering is properly engraved, or with it only partly inscribed. |
| Proof
(With Remarques) A "remarque" is a scribbled sketch made by the artist outside his main design which is eliminated later for printing the main edition. |
| Proof
(Artists Proof) A proof reserved for the artist outside the main edition. |
| Provenance A history of ownership. The provenance of some works of art can be traced back to the time that they were made. |
| Pulp The fibrous substance resulting from the pulping process in papermaking. |
| Raking
Light The technique of illumination of the surface of a work of art (painting) at one side, and |