Skip to main content

PRINTMAKING - Picasso

Pablo Picasso, I don't have to write an into to who he was... come on,  I wanted to look at some of Picasso's prints. I did a report on his lino cuts last year that I fell in love with ( https://catrinaannbarquist.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/picasso-lino-cuts.html )


While looking through some of Picasso's prints I found myself really interested in a series of etchings he made (156) around 1970 at the age of 90.


Eau-forte 19 Février 1970 - Etching on paper.

So visually the first thing I notice is the strong contrast from light to dark, linear to tonal and obviously scale. My favorite bit it the shadow like allusion on the arms of the two figures to the left of the darker section.





I like it because of the crosshatching effect and how much has been etched in for the ink to take to create the shadow. Shadow in print making is something that I find really attractive. The image to me, seems very sexual the way the women are holding the bodies makes me think they are perhaps prostitutes.


Etching 3 - 1970. (L.10) Etching on aquatint paper.
WAIT. What is Aquatint??


A print resembling a watercolour, made by etching a copper plate with nitric acid and using resin and varnish to produce areas of tonal shading.

Etching 22 - 1971 (l.133) - Aquatint and drypoint on paper
Etching 11- 1970 (l.13) - Etching on paper.
What I find interesting about this series is I feel there is an air of theatre around it, and the fact he was 90 at the time of making these, I feel he was thinking of his mortality. Perhaps reflecting back or making comments.
Etching 1 - 1972 (L.155) - Etching, Drypoint and aquatint on paper


This I find absolutely amazing. It really stood out to me. Its not as overly sexual as the others even thought the woman to the right has an air of sexuality about her, it feels like it is being said in a different way, but that contrast in line is absolutely stunning. I think this image alone shows how Picasso had mastered many different techniques.


It also has a great sense of depth of field. It defiantly feels like the figure on the right is further away than the face to the left. Use of tone. Light = further away. Dark = Closer. I also noticed the dark figure being on the left also instantly pulls in attention to it first, making me read the work from left to right. Composition.


I know from trying etching last year, if I remember correctly, to get that deep a black you need to crosshatch into the plate ALOT very tightly making it very rough for the ink to attach to. The linier part again, is so fluid. Almost effortless, so confident in the line itself. I always find myself questioning my hand. Almost like I don't trust it to create the mark I need to express what I am saying. With etching I become even more untrusting because its so permanent. But its something I am working on. Seeing these makes me so excited to try etching again!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alice Potter

. Digital Media . Illustration . Surface Pattern . Alice Potter   I decided to start my research with Alice Potter. I was interested in Alice Potter's work because it is very different to what i usually look at.  Potter is a London based freelance illustrator and children's wear print designer. Design is something i am not sure i have an eye for, i do appreciate it but i don't tend to find myself attracted to it, or give it as much thought as i probably should. http://alicepotter.co.uk https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AlicePotter I love the colours in this one above, i like how simple it is, but it still translates as an apple. I like the dot print i think it adds a kind of sweetness to the design as well as add something to the flatness of it. I really like these, i love how happy they look because of the use of colour.  Potter draws her work out in her sketch book and then moves onto illustrator where she uses the pen ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Typography Investagation.

We have started a new unit, typeface and letterforms. I found this very daunting, because, it is a completely new, huge world to me that i have never explored... We watched a film about Helvetica and it was very interesting but like i said i feel really overwhelmed. I wanted to know what happened before more in depth and really look into it as best i could. I decided to calm my nerves by looking into the history of type face, and to, i guess start at the beginning... for myself. while researching i found out that a lot of people agree that the creator of typography was a German man named Johannes Gutenberg. But before he came along books needed to be scribed, by hand. Obviously this was very time consuming, So Guttenberg created Blackletter. I think this was modeled after the scribe's. It has thick vertical lines, and thin horizontal connectors. This was hard for printing, as it looked very dense and squished together. So then came Roman Type, the first roman type was cr...
Post a Comment
Read more

Art & Design Portfolio - Sam Cornwell (Digital)

I decided to start my research on paper based and digital portfolios by first looking at a digital portfolio. One artist who came into the college to do a talk was a photographer called Sam Cornwell, he took us through his digital portfolio. I wanted to think about why his portfolio was digital and not paper based. One of the biggest advantages of a digital portfolio is the accessibility of it. It is easy to send out to employers or people wishing to view it. It is digital so it can easily be send to someone via email or put on a USB and accessed that way. Another reason is unlike a paper based portfolio there is more than one, it is easy to dispatch without spending money on paper to print. It is also instant, you might have to wait a few days for a paper port folio to be sent by mail or spend money on travel to bring it to the person wishing to view it. With a digital portfolio one click and it is sent! I went onto Sam Cornwell's page and found out his portfolio is on his web...
Post a Comment
Read more