independent
Etching techniques in modern graphics
The history of exlibris gives us an example of a surprising but fairly common metamorphosis. Born as an ordinary utilitarian owner’s signature, ex-libris has become an independent section of artistic printed graphics, as well as a collectible. Something similar happened with postcards, stamps, labels, and posters…
The first books were extremely expensive, their possession was comparable by today’s standards to owning a representative car, so it was absolutely natural to leave the owner’s signature in the book. Ordinary captions gradually evolved into font compositions and began to acquire various decorations. And since the owners of the books were mostly titled people, instead of the owner’s signature, his coat of arms appeared. Continue reading
ENGLISH CARICATURE.
A significant part of old English engravings are caricatures. The genre of caricature itself existed before. Leonardo da Vinci’s caricatures are known, and many of Bruegel’s and Bosch’s canvases have obvious satire features. But it is in England of the XVIII century that the caricature gains unprecedented popularity and becomes a real phenomenon of public life due to the increased level of education of the population and the great interest shown by all layers of English society to the political life of the country.
The subjects of the cartoons were very different. Artists depicted important events, famous people of the era, scenes of public life, and so on. at the same time, the influence of cartoons on public opinion was considerable. Continue reading
ENGLISH ANTIQUE ENGRAVING, ENGLISH STYLE OF THE XVII-EARLY XX CENTURIES.
THE ORIGIN OF ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND.
The English school in engraving is much younger than the Italian, German, or Dutch school. The history of English engraving should probably be kept from the end of the XV century. The first known engravings are placed in the book “Mirror of the world”, published in 1480 in Westminster by the English first printer William Caxton. The illustrations in the book are made in the technique of woodcut.
Later, other techniques – copper engraving and woodcut-were also used in England. Continue reading
