A print is an original work of art made by taking an impression from a matrix (a plate, stone, block or screen) that the artist prepared themselves. Techniques are divided according to where the ink sits on the matrix: relief printing (woodcut, linocut), intaglio (etching, engraving, drypoint), planographic printing, which includes lithography, and stencil printing. Screen printing, known in fine art as serigraphy, belongs to the last group, because the ink is not pressed off a surface but pushed through it. A print is therefore not a reproduction (a printed copy of a finished painting), but a work in its own right that exists in several impressions from the start.
A fine mesh is stretched over a frame, originally silk, today usually synthetic. The areas that should not print are blocked out with a stencil, and a squeegee then pushes ink through the open mesh onto paper or canvas. As a rule each colour needs its own screen, so a colour sheet is built up layer by layer. Commercial use spread in the 1920s; in the 1930s American artists took the technique up and coined the name serigraphy for its artistic form. The breakthrough came with a light-sensitive coating that allows even a photograph to be transferred onto the screen.
The most famous name is Andy Warhol, who began experimenting with screen prints in August 1962. His Factory went on to turn out screen prints of photographs of celebrities and car crashes alike. Screen printing need not end up on paper, though: Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn of 1964 is silkscreen and acrylic on canvas, and in 2022 it sold at Christie’s for 195 million dollars. And the Czech connection? Printmaking has a deep tradition here, cultivated since 1917 by the Hollar Association of Czech Printmakers, named after the engraver Wenceslaus Hollar.
First make sure it is an original print and not an offset or digital reproduction. An artist’s impression usually carries a pencil signature and an impression number in the lower margin; we cover this in more detail under Editions and limitation. Ask about the size of the run, the technique and the print workshop. Check the condition of the paper for yellowing, stains and signs of damp, and then frame the sheet behind UV-filtering glass. And the price? Here in the Czech Republic, prints by young and established artists alike start at a few thousand crowns. Isn’t that a lovely gateway to a collection of your own?
— Anna Pulkertová, founder of Art Part Club
Related terms: Lithography · Editions and limitation · Works on paper · Pop art
