Woodblocks are especially suited for delineating strong lines and broad areas of color, and the grain of the wood plank itself can often be found as part of the texture in the final print. If one looks at the reverse side of a woodblock work, the circular rubbing strokes of the baren will be apparent where the ink has been absorbed into the paper. In the old days of ukiyo-e, cherry wood was employed, a wood that restricted the size of the final print. Today the woodblock artist has access to other choices, including plywood, so woodblock prints can be made in much larger sizes than ever before.
A wood engraving is different from a woodblock because the wood used is taken from the end grain of the block, and the tools used are those of an engraver, allowing the artist to achieve the fine lines and detail of an etching. Wood engraving is a less spontaneous process than woodblock printing and demands contemplation and patience.
The lithographic method of printing images from a flat surface (the planographic process) was invented by a German, Alois Senefelder, in 1798, and is based on the fact that grease and water do not mix. Lithographs are made on a specially ground and polished stone, zinc, or aluminum plate upon which the artist draws his image with a greasy crayon, pencil, or special oily ink. The plate is then chemically "set" with gum arabic and nitric or phosphoric acid. When the plate is dampened and inked for printing, the ink will adhere only to the greasy particles and will be rejected in the undrawn portions.
Lithographs require a press with a sliding bed that moves under a wood and leather scraper that applies the pressure to transfer the image to the paper. A separate plate is made for each color used. Because the artist can draw directly on the plate, he can enjoy spontaneity of gesture and can experiment freely. Sometimes the images resemble paintings, since many textures and tonalities can be achieved, depending on the skill of the artist.
Silkscreen printing (serigraphy) is basically a stencil process requiring a silk, nylon, polyester, or fine wire-mesh screen. The screen is tightly stretched across a wooden or aluminum frame and the areas not to be printed are blocked out by a material like paper, glue, or specially prepared lacquer film. The ink is forced through the screen with a rubber squeegee onto the paper below, where it appears to be lying on the paper's surface. One of the great advantages of silkscreen printing is that the image created on the screen does not have to be prepared in reverse by the artist, as is necessary in all of the other printing processes.
This printing method has its origins in primitive and prehistoric art, probably having been used even as a way of tattooing. In the Orient it has long been employed to create fabric designs. In Japan, as far back as the eleventh century, it was used to decorate samurai leather armor and horse trappings. Today, along with being a method for fine-art printing, silkscreen printing is widely used commercially since it can be applied to just about any surface—paper, vinyl, glass, cloth, ad infinitum.
A unique stencil technique employed in Japan is kappazuri, which requires a special matrix made by laminating together several sheets of washi with kakishibu (persimmon tannin), then smoke-drying the laminated sheet to produce a highly water-resistant and durable stencil. This method has been used for ages for dyeing Okinawan bingata textiles, for printing family crests on kimono, and as a supplementary technique in the making of ukiyo-e.
The artist affixes his rough sketch to the stencil paper and then cuts away his "key" impression with a small, sharp knife. From this "key" he will proceed to cut individual stencils for each color to be printed. Prior to the printing, a dye-resist paste is applied to the portions of the design to be left blank. Each color process requires an application of resist paste in the places not to be dyed. After the colors are all printed, the "key" stencil is placed over the print and the entire print is covered with the resist paste. The "key" is then removed, and when the paste has completely dried the uncovered "key" lines are printed with India ink. After the ink dries, the resist paste is washed off and the work is complete. One can see why the stencil has to be very strong to withstand all of these processes.
Intaglio (from the Italian meaning cut into or engrave) is a generic term for a variety of etching techniques. Pits or grooves are created on a copper, zinc, aluminum, or steel plate in two ways, either with a sharp tool or by the action of a strong acid solution. Greasy ink is then worked into these depressions and the surface of the plate is wiped clean. Using a press resembling a giant wringer, the artist places his dampened paper on the plate and runs it through the press. The intense pressure forces the paper into the incisions and the image is thus transferred. Intaglio prints are easy to identify because the printing pressure is so great that the plate leaves the image depressed and raises the margins surrounding it.
Basic intaglio processes executed with sharp tools are engraving, drypoint, and mezzotint. In engraving, the artist uses a wedge-shaped or pointed steel instrument called a burin to work directly on the plate, scraping the metal away. The result is a hard, crisp line. In drypoint, a steel needle displaces the metal on the plate, not only incising a line but leaving a burred edge. Both incision and burr hold ink, so the resulting printed line is soft and feathery. Mezzotint is similar to drypoint except that a rough burr is raised all over the plate with a heavy, serrated tool called a rocker, so that the plate will print totally black. Tones are then developed with a burnishing tool. (Hamanishi Katsunori, one of Japan's outstanding young mezzotint artists, says that creating this burred background with a rocker is boring and tedious and he does it while watching TV.)
The most common intaglio processes using acid are etching and aquatint. In an etching, scrapings in the plate are produced by drawing with a needle through an acid-resistant wax base and then immersing the plate in an acid bath that "bites" into the lines. Darker lines are produced by lengthening the immersion time and strengthening the acid. In aquatint, the plate is dusted with rosin particles, which are then melted to adhere them to the plate. The acid in the bath bites around the particles to create a tonal effect. This process is often combined with other intaglio techniques.
Printmaking seems well suited to the Japanese temperament, which prizes excellent and precise workmanship. In oil paintings or watercolors, one can sometimes discern the occasional blurring of a line, a little smudge here or there, and find it unique or charming. But there are no allowances made for any vagaries in the execution of a print. There can be no element of chance when the knife cuts into the wood, no tentativeness in the engraving of a plate. The line is final; there is no going back. Everything is clearly calculated to produce an exact and certain result.
Print artists are always intrigued by the many avenues available to achieve their desired expression. Moreover, it is impressive to see the broad range of imagery, techniques, and combinations that emerges from each new generation of artists. The creative use of these varieties adds to the delight of the collector.
On top of that, we can add that Japanese printmakers in particular have long been noted for their respect and feeling for their materials, for their artistic sensitivity, their single-minded devotion to their work, their eye for composition and color, and their heritage of printing. Japan has changed a great deal, overwhelmingly in just the past two decades, but artistic ideals have remained consistently high.
This bustling country provides an atmosphere rich in contrasts, having jumped from a long, feudal, isolated past into the mainstream of the international economic and political world in just 135 years. The contemporary Japanese artist has a virtual panorama of images to draw on, from quaint temple gardens to the glitzy neon of the Ginza. And now that so many artists are traveling and studying in foreign countries, they are culling additional inspiration from both East and West for a visually exciting and stimulating amalgam of original work.
The art of the print is alive and well in the hands of the Japanese printmaker, who at present, as never before, is enjoying a confident and prominent position on the international art scene. The outpouring of vigorous and exuberant new work is a delight.
The prints illustrated here provide ample visual proof that Japan's new cultural ambassadors have the same appeal and vitality as their ukiyo-e predecessors and are a testimony to a continuing tradition of virtuosity and elegance. They are the nation's