printmaking

Table of Contents

Introduction
Major techniques of printmaking
- Relief processes
  - Woodcut
  - Colour woodcut
  - Wood engraving
  - Linoleum cut
  - Metal cut
  - Cardboard (paper) cut
  - Relief etching
  - Rubbing
  - Dotted print (criblé)
- Intaglio processes
  - Engraving
  - Drypoint
  - Mezzotint
  - Crayon manner and stipple engraving
  - Etching
    - Hard-ground etching
    - Soft-ground etching
    - Relief etching
    - Aquatint
    - Lift-ground etching (sugar-lift aquatint)
    - Acids and the etching process
  - Metal graphic
  - Printing by intaglio processes
    - Intaglio colour printing
    - Stencilled colours with an intaglio plate
    - Intaglio and surface colour with relief etching
- Surface-printing processes
  - Lithography
  - Stencil processes
- Special techniques
  - Monoprint (monotype)
  - Cliché-verre
  - The cellocut
  - Collagraphy
  - Plaster print
- Process prints
  - Linecut
  - Halftone cut or plate
  - Rotogravure
  - Offset lithography
- Contemporary experimentation
- Mounting and care of prints
History of printmaking
- Printmaking in the 15th century
  - Germany
  - Italy
  - Other countries
    - The Netherlands and Burgundy
    - France
- Printmaking in the 16th century
  - Germany
  - Other countries
    - The Netherlands and Flanders
    - Italy
    - France
  - Trends in the late 16th century
- Printmaking in the 17th century
  - Portrait engraving
    - France
    - Germany
    - The Netherlands
    - England
  - Flemish printmaking
  - European etching
    - Italy
    - The Netherlands
  - Japanese ukiyo-e prints
- Printmaking in the 18th century
  - Italy
  - England
  - Spain
  - France
  - Japan
- Printmaking in the 19th century
  - France
  - Japan
  - Other countries
- Printmaking in the 20th century
  - France
  - Germany
  - Other countries

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images & Videos

Mary Cassatt: Woman Bathing

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Jane Avril

Master of the Playing Cards: A Poet Reading

Antonio Pollaiuolo: Battle of the Naked Men

Hans Baldung: The Crucifixion

Robert Nanteuil: Marin Cureau de la Chambre

Jacques Callot: The Hangman's Tree

Hercules Seghers: The Rocky River Landscape

Giovanni Battista Piranesi: The Grand Piazza

William Hogarth: The Cockpit

For Students

Hokusai: The Breaking Wave off Kanagawa

printmaking summary

Read Next

Blank canvas in an artist's studio. Art; oil paints; brushes; artists' tools

6 Contemporary Artists Who Redefined Their Mediums

"Self-Portrait Etching at a Window" etching (drypoint and burin in black on ivory laid paper) by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1648; in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Explore the Beauty of Oil Paintings with These 5 Works by Rembrandt

poem. A poet in a Heian period kimono writes Japanese poetry during the Kamo Kyokusui No En Ancient Festival at Jonan-gu shrine on April 29, 2013 in Kyoto, Japan. Festival of Kyokusui-no Utage orignated in 1,182, party Heian era (794-1192).

World Poetry Day

Discover

Stylish light blue jeans on wooden background, closeup of inset pocket

Why Do Jeans Have That Tiny Pocket?

In this aerial photo, structures are damaged and destroyed October 15, 2005 in Balakot, Pakistan. It is estimated that 90% of the city of Balakot was leveled by the earthquake. The death toll in the 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck northern Pakistan on October 8, 2005 is believed to be 38,000 with at least 1,300 more dead in Indian Kashmir. SEE CONTENT NOTES.

6 of the World’s Deadliest Natural Disasters

Young men throw balloons and glitter from above the mosque at the celebration Eid Al-Fitr after prayers playing with balloons outside of Al-seddeeq mosque, Al-Mansourah, Egypt. 17 July 2015.

Solar Eclipse, Eclipse, Solar Flare, Outer Space, Astronomy

What Causes Lunar and Solar Eclipses?

Pluto. The Changing Faces of Pluto. Most detailed view to date of the entire surface of the dwarf planet Pluto, as constructed from multiple NASA Hubble Space Telescope photographs taken from 2002 to 2003.

10 Important Dates in Pluto History

VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.

What Is an Aftershock?

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

printmaking: Facts & Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	print • fine print

Photos and Videos

Mary Cassatt: Woman Bathing

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Jane Avril

Master of the Playing Cards: A Poet Reading

Antonio Pollaiuolo: Battle of the Naked Men

Hans Baldung: The Crucifixion

Robert Nanteuil: Marin Cureau de la Chambre

Jacques Callot: The Hangman's Tree

Hercules Seghers: The Rocky River Landscape

Giovanni Battista Piranesi: The Grand Piazza

William Hogarth: The Cockpit

Learn about Paul Gauguin's unconventional printmaking technique

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

stenciling rubbing monotype cliché-verre relief printing costume plate plaster print ukiyo-e linocut nishiki-e architecture film dance sculpture painting drawing history of photography garden and landscape design literature graphic design

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

art conservation and restoration: Prints and drawings on paper

Key People

Julie Mehretu

Julie Mehretu

Ethiopian American painter and printmaker

Rembrandt: Self-Portrait

Rembrandt

Dutch artist

William Blake

William Blake

British writer and artist

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Spanish artist

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas

French artist

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse

French artist

Albrecht Dürer: Self-Portrait in Furred Coat

Albrecht Dürer

German artist

Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga, fresco by Andrea Mantegna, completed 1474; in the Camera degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy.

Andrea Mantegna

Italian artist

Camille Pissarro: Self-Portrait

Camille Pissarro

French artist

J.M.W. Turner: The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838

J.M.W. Turner

English painter

Honoré Daumier

Honoré Daumier

French artist

The Painter and His Pug, self-portrait by William Hogarth, oil on canvas, 1745; in the Tate Gallery, London.

William Hogarth

English artist

Francisco Goya: Self-portrait

Francisco Goya

Spanish artist

Fantin-Latour, Henri: A Studio at Batignolles

Édouard Manet

French painter

van Dyck, Anthony

Anthony van Dyck

Flemish painter

Wassily Kandinsky: Painting with Green Center

Wassily Kandinsky

Russian-born artist

Paul Klee

Paul Klee

Swiss-German artist

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

Italian artist

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: At the Moulin Rouge

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

French artist

Braque, photograph by Arnold Newman, 1956

Georges Braque

French artist

Quiz

"Self-Portrait Etching at a Window" etching (drypoint and burin in black on ivory laid paper) by Rembrandt van Rijn, 1648; in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Artistic Styles and Techniques Quiz

List

Blank canvas in an artist's studio. Art; oil paints; brushes; artists' tools

6 Contemporary Artists Who Redefined Their Mediums