This award-winning amply illustrated volume of informative essays and vibrant prints by the current members of the California Society of Printmakers was published to commemorate its 2013 centennial year. Readers interested in knowing more about how a small group of prominent artist-etchers in Northern California formulated an aspirational society near the turn of the 20th century and transformed itself over the course of one hundred years—welcoming artists, working in all printmaking media, into its company from around the United States and abroad—will find the ideal source in this lush book.
Printing and collecting the revolution : the rise and impact of Chicano graphics, 1965 to now / E. Carmen Ramos -- Aesthetics of the message : Chicana/o posters, 1965-1987 / Terezita Romo -- War at home : conceptual iconoclasm in American printmaking / Tatiana Reinoza -- Chicanx graphics in the digital age / Claudia E. Zapata.
Woodblock printing is an ancient art form, which produces beautiful, subtle and lively pieces with just a few simple materials. This book introduces the art, and shares technical information and ideas for those with more experience. A wide range of exciting examples of printed woodcuts are shown along with advice on materials and tools, and a step-by-step guide to sharpening. Techniques to achieve quality prints and perfect registration are covered too. Drawing on the vibrant living traditions from China and Japan, it is both a technical guide and an inspiration. Beautifully illustrated with 160 colour photographs.
Color woodcut printmaking was not new to Britain, America, or Japan in the late eighteenth century. Yet after Japan was opened to the West in 1854 and deeper cultural exchange began, Japanese prints captured the European and American imagination. The fresh colors, simplicity of materials, and departure from traditional compositions entranced western artists and the public alike. Likewise, Japanese audiences and artists were intrigued by the styles and techniques of western art, which was broadly available in Japan by the end of the nineteenth century. Artists there created images of the strange foreigners and imagined what American cities looked like. By the beginning of the twentieth century, artists were not content to merely imagine what the other side of the world looked like. As prints traveled around the globe for study so did artists, and with them spread the tricks and techniques of color woodblock printmaking as well as appreciation for the prints. Woodblock printmakers in the West started to investigate Japanese processes, and Japanese publishers began to seriously seek out the print market outside of Japan. Important themes began to emerge; scenes of nature and old-fashioned architecture outnumbered modern city views, and images of animals were nearly as popular as those of human figures. Imagery was often idyllic and beautiful, attractive to an international audience. Twentieth-century art, however, moves at a furious pace, and the ferment of the international woodcut style quickly ran its course. Artists appropriated what they needed from the color woodcut, then developed techniques, subjects, and styles in their own ways. An ever-expanding range of prints became indebted to the artists of the previous generation who had reinvigorated woodblock printmaking styles and practices around the world. This full-color catalogue includes many prints from this colorful exhibition and shows how the progression of styles became more similar as international artists learned from and competed with each other, then stylistically diverged as artists of each country took what they learned in new directions. The three essays each focus on the influences and contributions made to the international style by three countries: Japan, Britain, and America.
Winkler was an extraordinary artist and no less an extraordinary human being. The authors - one of whom knew the subject for the last seventeen years of his life - have experienced a nine-year odyssey in putting together the pieces of this American etcher's distinguished career.
