Intaglio Printing
Introduction
Intaglio, meaning “to carve” in Italian [1], has been around since at least the fifteenth century, although one could argue that the basic mechanisms of intaglio printing have been around the advent of cave paintings and art. While the basic mechanism of intaglio has stayed the same over time, the art has evolved with advancements in the technologies needed to create intaglio prints. Due to the many possible techniques used to make an “intaglio print,” the term intaglio has become known as more of a genre or type of printmaking, rather than a singular type of printmaking. In its most basic form, intaglio consists of carving, etching or chemically removing pre-determined sections (or shavings) of metal from a metal plate. This basic result can be achieved in many different ways, and in doing so, has different effects on the style and aesthetic of the intaglio print.
In this paper I will be exploring one of the most modern forms of intaglio—color. After giving a brief history of intaglio as a print form, I will explore how intaglio color prints differ from their black and white predecessors, and what this means for the genre as a whole, as well as how it changes the experience of the viewer. After situating the reader within the broader context of color intaglio prints, I will analyze two famous prints that utilize the intaglio color print method. The first is Stanley William Henley’s “Witches’ Sabbath” printed in 1956-57. The second, Krishna Reddy’s “The Great Clown” series, was printed in 1986 and was printed using “simultaneous process from a carved intaglio plate” (Reddy 96). In looking at these two objects, I will attempt to answer the following questions: Why print color intaglio? How does printing in intaglio change the medium? Why has color intaglio become a popular art-form? Lastly, I will comment on the shift from engraving, etching and other forms of intaglio used in the 20th century and before, to color printing, and what it may mean for intaglio as an art-form today.
Section 1
