Term
Printmaking
The collective term for works transferred from a prepared printing surface to paper or another material.
- Category
- Term
- Index letter
- P
Understanding the term
In original printmaking, a matrix such as a plate, stone, block or screen is prepared and each impression results from that process. Small variations may occur between prints. A photographic reproduction of a painting is not printmaking in this narrower sense.
When Printmaking appears in a description, the term helps specify a work's form, status or history. Its precise meaning should always be read alongside information about material, technique, date and origin.
Specialist terminology is most useful when it can be supported. Signatures, labels, edition numbers, documentation and visible traces in the object can all help establish whether a term is accurate in a particular case.
Related entries
Continue through the glossary with terms from the same field.