ARTH 502
History, Theory, and Techniques of Printmaking Spring 2016
Division I
This is not the current course catalog

This course will consider the history of prints in Europe and America from the fifteenth century through the 1920s. Focusing primarily on the holdings of the Clark, classes will be held in the new Manton Study Center for Works on Paper where students will view original works of art. Equal emphasis will be placed on primary literature, theoretical texts, and a careful understanding of printmaking processes. Media to be investigated include, among others, 15th-century woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer, drypoints by Rembrandt van Rijn, engravings by Philibert-Louis Debucourt, aquatints by Francesco Goya, lithographs by Édouard Manet, etchings by James McNeill Whistler, photo-mechanical processes like photogravure by artist Alfred Stieglitz, and color woodcuts by the German Expressionists. The rise and fall of various processes and practitioners will be explored from a socio-historical perspective, considering market, taste, and changing exhibition strategies. Additionally, consideration will be given to the status of the printmaker over the centuries as their roles shifted from professional to amateur and back again.