Aquatint

How an ingenious printmaking technique became a cross-cultural phenomenon in Enlightenment Europe Driven by a growing interest in collecting and multiplying drawings, artists and amateurs in the eighteenth century sought a new technique capable of replicating the subtlety of ink, wash, and watercolor. They devised an innovative and versatile new medium—aquatint—which would spread in use across Europe within a few decades, its distinctive dark tones making possible a remarkable variety of ingenious imagery. In this illuminating book, Rena M. Hoisington traces how the aquatint technique flourished as a cross-cultural and cosmopolitan phenomenon that contributed to the rise of art publishing, connoisseurship, leisure travel, drawing instruction, and the popularity of neoclassicism. She offers new insights into sophisticated experiments by artists such as Francisco de Goya, Katharina Prestel, Paul Sandby, and Jean-Baptiste Le Prince. Marvelously illustrated with rare works from the National Gallery of Art’s collection of early aquatints, this engaging book provides a fresh look at how printmaking contributed to a vibrant exchange of information and ideas in Europe during the Enlightenment. Published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC Exhibition Schedule National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC October 24, 2021–February 21, 2022

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

"Magical secrets are quickly grasped. They open doors to fresh ways of seeing and understanding. Artists use aquatint, a form of etching, to create delicate washes, velvety blacks, and intricate layers of color impossible in other art media. In this book, the third in a series about etchings, Emily York discusses 46 aquatints by 32 artists, with special attention to fascinating sequential works by Richard Diebenkorn and Al Held. Emily York is a master painter at Crown Point Press, a publishing workshop where artists have been creating etchings since 1962. She ties processes directly to art, and with clear writing and abundant illustrations explains the aquatint processes of spit bite, sugar lift, soap ground, and water bite. She also details steel-facing and multiple-plate printing, and gives step-by-step instructions for making your own aquatints. Anyone who cares about art will enjoy this book, and anyone who makes etchings will find it indefensible. The included DVD demonstrates the processes, and the accompanying website provides ongoing information about printmaking."--Publisher's description.

Combines essays, bibliographical descriptions, and 295 illustrations to chronicle a golden era in the art of the illustrated book. Artists range from Blake, Turner, Rowlandson, and Morris to Caldecott, Greenaway, Beardsley, and Rackham.

"As the printing industry accelerates its transition from an analog to digital environment, it seems especially appropriate to celebrate the achievements of its color printing pioneers, writes David Pankow, Curator of the RIT Melbert B. Cary, Jr. Graphic Arts Collection. The book is intended to make the reader familiar with the history and identification characteristics of twenty-one historic printing processes. Each informative process description is illustrated by vibrant color reproductions, the majority of which were photographed from rare books held at the Cary Collection at Rochester Institute of Technology.

This beautifully illustrated book looks at printmaking from 1550 to the last days before mechanization in the 1860s, explaining the process and technique involved and the fantastic results achieved by early printers.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition "Picasso: Themes and Variations" held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, N.Y., Mar. 24-Sept. 6, 2010.