Silkscreen prints are also called stencil prints. It is like an industrial pattern printing method, which scrapes and squeezes the color from the mesh to the substrate, so it is also called silkscreen prints. At the beginning of the 20th century, the British Samuel Slmon (Samuel Slmon) developed a method of printing with silk screen. Subsequently, screen printing was widely used and spread. The first photosensitive agent was used in printing plate-making technology in the United States around 1914-1915. During this period, Europeans were also trying to use this technology. The true perfection of photosensitive plate making technology should be said to be in 1925, but no patent was obtained, because before it in 1918, the printing and dyeing model plate method as a screen printing technology had been recognized and obtained. patent. In 1915, Americans C. M. Peter and A. Imery and others invented the use of emulsions (gum arabic, kraft gum, gelatin, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinyl acetate) to reconcile potassium bisulfate and ammonium bisulfate. A sensitizer made of photosensitive materials. Through experiments, the first technology to obtain a screen printing plate by the photosensitive filming method was officially born, but the photosensitive agent at this time was extremely simple, primitive and unstable. From the 1920s to the 1930s, screen printing technology was widely used in the textile printing and dyeing industry. Artists at that time were invited to participate in the design of patterns and shapes with a unique style of the times, and then used silk-screen technology to produce limited quantities rather than mass production. The aesthetic value of these printing and dyeing products is different from that of general products, which should be attributed to the application of silk screen photo-engraving technology at that time. The positive film base map used in photosensitive plate making allows artists to draw the pattern base map without any scruples, without the problem of reversal of the direction of the base map and the direction of the printed product pattern. At the same time, artists can use their imagination and play, and any fine patterns created can be reproduced accurately. The tolerance and adaptability of the screen printing process ensures its continued existence in the textile industry. In the 1930s, the screen printing technology and printing equipment in textile printing and dyeing underwent profound changes. Large-scale automated screen printing machines replaced manual operations. The development of plate-making technology also promoted the fineness of the patterns and colors of printed products leap.
Before and after the Second World War, due to industrial development, especially the needs of the military, screen printing was greatly developed. In the 1950s and 1960s, photoengraving screen printing technology was widely used in the United States, Japan and other countries. Screen printing is widely used commercially. It can be used to print advertisements, packaging, street signs, clothing patterns, etc. It can be said that screen-printed items can be seen everywhere. It is fast, economical, flexible in size, and easy to make and print. It is widely used by the society. welcome.
Although silk screen prints are loved by the world, they are a type of printmaking that is not well known to most people. When it comes to “prints”, most people think of woodcuts. In fact, the concept of “prints” is much larger: in addition to woodblock prints, there are lithographs, copper prints, paper prints, clay prints and so on. Lithographs, copperplate prints and silkscreen prints are called “three editions”, and a special “three editions exhibition” is held every few years in China. As a strange flower in the family of printmaking, the emergence of silkscreen prints has become the mainstream of world printmaking and is a rather contemporary printmaking variety.
creative meaning
The process of printmaking is the process of releasing the painter’s soul, and it is the embodiment of the painter’s aesthetic taste. Each piece of printmaking must be signed by the artist himself, the number of the work with a limited number of prints, the creation time, etc., to ensure that the printmaking fully reflects the artist’s creative intention, artistic level and market circulation. Generally, the number of silk screen prints is between 30 and 50, and there are more. At present, the largest known silk screen print in China is the 1,000 silk screen work “Buddha” created by Dongfang Tuqin to raise funds for charity.
Printmaking has its own unique painting language, and its artistic level is comparable to other works of art such as Chinese painting and oil painting. However, due to the plural nature of printmaking, the cost of creation is relatively low, so the market price of printmaking for the same artist’s work is relatively high. Compared with oil paintings, Chinese paintings and other varieties, it is much lower, so printmaking has become an excellent way for the public to collect the works of well-known artists.
Printmaking Features
1. The equipment is simple. The most basic equipment is silk screen, screen frame and squeegee.
2. Plate making and printing methods are simple and easy to master, especially in multi-color plate making and printing, saving time and effort.
3. Because the screen version is transparent, the picture on the manuscript and the version is consistent with the picture obtained after printing, so there is no need to take into account anyway.
4. The printing area can be very large.
5. The substrate is not limited to paper, wood, leather, glass, metal, etc. can be used for printing.
6. The substrates are not limited to flat surfaces. Due to the elasticity of the screen, it can be printed on curved and rough surfaces.
7. The performance methods are varied. The printed pigments can be oil-based or water-based, and can be used freely.
8. It broke through the limitation of prints mainly in black and white, and realized multi-color.
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Silkscreen prints entered China with the bell of reform and opening up. The relaxed social environment and enlightened cultural policies provided a free and broad space for its development. The first silkscreen print in China was “Hello in Autumn” by Mr. Guang Jun, which was still printed with a mimeograph at that time, with obvious traces of woodblock prints. Chinese silkscreen prints came out of the shadow of woodcut prints after the mid-1980s. The modern art movement in the mid-1980s provided an opportunity for the further expansion of screen prints. The overall orientation of the entire art world “stretching out to the tradition and the West” in the whole art circle made the silk screen prints without the traditional burden improve the technique while improving the technique. With a more open attitude than other editions, it has widely absorbed domestic and foreign artistic nutrients, and freely borrowed various artistic expressions, so the development speed is considerable.
Since the mid-1990s, silkscreen prints have presented a new situation of three generations living together: the first generation of screenprinters has gradually matured, the second generation has emerged, and in recent years, the third generation has also emerged. From the perspective of knowledge structure, the new generation of screen printmakers are very different from their predecessors. If the first generation received more traditional education, then the young screen printmakers are baptized in modernist art. received education in printmaking. Therefore, the concept is new, new things are accepted quickly, and the exploration of physical properties is emphasized. In addition, with the improvement of the level of science and technology, the improvement of equipment and materials, and the input of a large number of foreign media, the screen printing context has been changed, the schema has been updated, and the techniques have been refined. Accelerates its own modernization process.
development path
The development history of silk screen printing in China:
From 1979 to 1980, under the advocacy of Mr. Li Hua, director of the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the Printmaking Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts established the first silkscreen printmaking studio in mainland China. Since then, China’s silkscreen printmaking began its development process. , so far only a short history of more than 20 years.
From 1981 to 2003, eight consecutive national exhibitions of copperplates, lithographs and silkscreen prints (also referred to as the “Three Editions Exhibition”) played a great role in promoting Chinese silkscreen prints.
Since 1982, on the basis that the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the China Academy of Art (formerly Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts) and the silkscreen printmaking studio of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts have been built successively, batches of students who have graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts have gone to the country and selected advanced teachers from various academies. After returning to school, major art academies across the country have successively established a number of modern, systematic and large-scale silkscreen printmaking studios, which has greatly accelerated the development of silkscreen printmaking in China.
In May 2001, the “First China Silkscreen Printmaking Exhibition” was jointly held by the Printmaking Art Committee of the China Artists Association and the China Screen Printing and Image Making Association at the Beijing Exhibition Hall; The exhibition hall was jointly organized by the Printmaking Art Committee of the China Artists Association, the China Screen Printing and Image Making Association and the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts. “Retrospective Exhibition of Chinese Silkscreen Prints” jointly sponsored by the Academy of Fine Arts and “Chinese Printmaking”; in July 2005, “Silk Screen – Invitational Exhibition of 20 Contemporary Chinese Silkscreen Printmakers” held in Beijing Three Quarters Gallery. This series of large and medium-sized exhibitions on silkscreen prints has positively influenced and promoted the development of silkscreen prints in China.
Material selection
In terms of materials, from the beginning of its establishment, relying on the technical support of the Beijing Institute of Printing Technology and the China Institute of Printing Technology, and using solvent-based inks with strong odors as printing inks, it began the earliest exploration of Chinese screen prints. In terms of plate making, ammonium dichromate mixed with gelatin or polyvinyl alcohol was used to make photosensitive plates, which caused serious environmental pollution and affected human health. Later, the successful development of non-polluting diazo photosensitive adhesive enabled the “life” of silk screen prints in China to continue to this day, making it one of the four editions in the print family that has the same status as woodblock, lithograph and copperblock. . Especially at the end of 2002, the China Screen Printing and Imaging Association imported the professional water-based ink for screen printing from the United Kingdom, which made a qualitative leap in the material of Chinese screen printing and drove the screen printing forward. The pace of development has brought a batch of excellent works with new era characteristics and new printmaking language in front of us, which makes us refreshed!
In 2005, a set of “combined fun screen prints” products, which directly aimed at popularizing the production of silk screen prints for Chinese teenagers and cultivating their aesthetic taste of prints, began to be launched. A new development opportunity for screen prints!
making tool
The tools used in screen prints are: wire mesh above 200 mesh, wire mesh frame, squeegee, stretch mesh glue, peach glue, net washing liquid, transparent film, photosensitive liquid, color, etc. The production method of silk screen prints is based on the different printing requirements of watermarking and mimeograph, such as split film platemaking method and photosensitive platemaking method, and the most widely used and latest platemaking method is photosensitive platemaking method.
Production process
a. Make the prepared sketches color-separated with transparencies.
b. Scrape the configured photosensitive liquid onto the screen with a scraping liquid tank in the darkroom for drying.
C. Press the dried screen frame on the color separation film for exposure. After exposure, wash off the excess film with water and dry it.
D. Fix the screen frame after drying on the printing table, and print the good version.