The photogravure process is one of the most beautiful printmaking processes the photographic world has ever witnessed. As somebody who's worked in the art and science of photography since the 1970s, Jon Lybrook has published a procedure as resource and to help people with an interest in achieving more continuous-tone quality from their intaglio prints made from polymer plates. It has taken more than a few years of first-hand trial and error and the input of many seasoned craftsmen from varied disciplines to develop this approach, from which the service company Intaglio Editions was founded in September of 2004.
This process is not for newbies, and unquestionably not a cheap or simple strategy to printmaking. Making polymer plates in this fashion requires an investment of time and cash, but we hope this document saves you a good deal of both, and permits you to create beautifully satisfying, archival, polymer photogravure prints!
The procedure won't achieve the same level of detail and resolution as the ultimate of these processes: Copper Plate Gravure. The point of this method is to make prints that reach a sense of quality somewhere between the contrasty, and more grainy-looking polymer plate prints many of us have come to expect, and those made from copper gravure, or silver gelatin coming nearer to the latter two, we are hoping. The method involves the use of a high-resolution aquatint screen, Jon Lybrook first learned about from David Hoptman.
Some of us have asked, "Why not do straight photography, instead of going thru all this business of buying special equipment and screens, generating added effort and expense?" To photographers who have tried intaglio printmaking the explanations are clear: Photographic chemistry is supposedly more poisonous than this process (though as alternative photography guru Dick Sullivan once pointed out, how might we really know polymer photogravure is a harmless process? Well, Dick's questions were not off-base. Photographic artist Karl Koenig reported to me he had used one popular kind of polymer plate for 2-3 years doing washout with his hands with no problem. Then one day out of the blue he developed a painfully blistering and severe skin reaction from a buildup of poisons in his skin which took many months and doctor visits to fix. Karl now wouldn't think about processing a polymer plate without nitrile gloves.
Health risks notwithstanding, we do intaglio printmaking for several reasons. We do it because A) it is first and foremost, more archival than standard photography, digital or non-digital, B) it is certainly less immediately noxious than the chemicals employed in copper etching, C) it permits us to employ many creative and regular printmaking methodologies that straight photography does not, such as a la poupee and chin colle, and D) it offers a wider range of papers to use. Until the technology or the standard approach changes, results of this process will likely never look as clear nor as continuous in tone as a silver or giclee print, nor should that be predicted. The approach Lybrook proposes for fine art photogravure prints from polymer plates has , however , brought us several steps closer.
This process is not for newbies, and unquestionably not a cheap or simple strategy to printmaking. Making polymer plates in this fashion requires an investment of time and cash, but we hope this document saves you a good deal of both, and permits you to create beautifully satisfying, archival, polymer photogravure prints!
The procedure won't achieve the same level of detail and resolution as the ultimate of these processes: Copper Plate Gravure. The point of this method is to make prints that reach a sense of quality somewhere between the contrasty, and more grainy-looking polymer plate prints many of us have come to expect, and those made from copper gravure, or silver gelatin coming nearer to the latter two, we are hoping. The method involves the use of a high-resolution aquatint screen, Jon Lybrook first learned about from David Hoptman.
Some of us have asked, "Why not do straight photography, instead of going thru all this business of buying special equipment and screens, generating added effort and expense?" To photographers who have tried intaglio printmaking the explanations are clear: Photographic chemistry is supposedly more poisonous than this process (though as alternative photography guru Dick Sullivan once pointed out, how might we really know polymer photogravure is a harmless process? Well, Dick's questions were not off-base. Photographic artist Karl Koenig reported to me he had used one popular kind of polymer plate for 2-3 years doing washout with his hands with no problem. Then one day out of the blue he developed a painfully blistering and severe skin reaction from a buildup of poisons in his skin which took many months and doctor visits to fix. Karl now wouldn't think about processing a polymer plate without nitrile gloves.
Health risks notwithstanding, we do intaglio printmaking for several reasons. We do it because A) it is first and foremost, more archival than standard photography, digital or non-digital, B) it is certainly less immediately noxious than the chemicals employed in copper etching, C) it permits us to employ many creative and regular printmaking methodologies that straight photography does not, such as a la poupee and chin colle, and D) it offers a wider range of papers to use. Until the technology or the standard approach changes, results of this process will likely never look as clear nor as continuous in tone as a silver or giclee print, nor should that be predicted. The approach Lybrook proposes for fine art photogravure prints from polymer plates has , however , brought us several steps closer.
About the Author:
Jon Lybrook is owner and chief printmaker at Intaglio Editions in Boulder Colorado. Jon's writing about art and computers may be found at http://jonlybrook.com
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