‘Printmaking Tales’ is the new FABRIANO project entirely dedicated to art printing, curated by Umberto Giovannini and published by Opificio della Rosa, which will be presented in London on Thursday 9 March 2023 from 6pm at Fedrigoni Paper London Studio.
A volume dedicated to art printing and designed to trace the history of an ancient, fascinating technique that has accompanied generations of artists.
A large map used to recount the stages and evolution of printmaking to learn about the techniques and styles that have followed over the centuries, profound artistic changes, and their different variations.
This bilingual Italian-English volume stems from a desire to stimulate curiosity and interest in the world of art printing. It is aimed not only at specialists but also at all those who have never had the opportunity to experience the alchemy that occurs when ink meets paper through different printing techniques.
“Looking at the perspectives of contemporary graphic design and thinking about the new languages that are developing, I would like Printmaking Tales to open a door to observe the artisan, artistic journey that began many centuries ago, the one we now call printmaking”. – Umberto Giovannini.
It is a path full of twists and turns, divided into eleven chapters, each dedicated to a different technique and introduced by a story, the fruit of the author’s imagination, which builds off of people and episodes that have marked the history of art printing. This yields ‘a small fresco of the history and development of each technique, from its beginnings to its modern expression’.
Printmaking Tales unfolds as a cognitive journey from the oldest technique, woodcuts, to contemporary printmaking experiments, passing through burin engraving, etching, drypoint, aquatint, halftones, xylography, lithography, typography, silk-screen printing, and mixed techniques. The introduction of each technique is accompanied by a glossary and enriched with the most important examples of etchings by artists from different eras.
For the official presentation in London, ‘Printmaking tales’ will be produced in a precious limited edition of only 100 copies, with a box and suite with the original works.
