Although this term, strictly speaking, covers all the arts connected with writing and drawing, it is now principally applied to the processes of printing from various kinds of blocks, plates or type, such as etching, drypoint, lithography, wood and linoleum block printing, etc.
Print processes fall into three general classifications:
(1) Relief process, in which the impression is made by a line or area that stands out from the background of the block, carries the ink and by means of pressing or rubbing transfers it to the paper, as in woodcuts (q. v.), wood engraving, linol-cuts and commercial line blocks.
(2) Intaglio process, in which the line or area that makes the impression is cut into the metal plate and holds the ink which is drawn out into the paper in printing by the great pressure of the press, as in engraving on metal, mezzotint, aquatint and drypoint.
(3) Flat process, in which there is no appreciable difference in level between the printing area and the general surface, but in which the area destined for printing has been chemically treated so that it retains ink which transfers to paper under pressure, as in lithography. Another flat process is silk-screen printing in which the ink is applied through stencils.
Among the technical terms used in connection with prints the more important are: edition, the number of prints issued, often numbered by contemporary artists, as for example, 3/50, 3rd of an edition of 50; impression, each print produced; proof or trial proof, impressions printed while the artist is working on the block or plate to check progress; when the artist prints a number of impressions, alters the plate and then prints others, the first group is said to be of the first state, those printed later after revision, of the second state, etc. Occasionally, when only one proof of a certain state exists, it is known as a unique impression. But there is only one graphic process which limits prints to a single copy — the monotype, which dates from the 19th century.
Windows
The windows are a significant feature of any style of building, and their shape and arrangement considerably affect its character. The window area is limited at the sides by the reveal, a surface at right angles to the face of the wall, and by the head at the top. If the reveal has a slant, it is called a splay. The window can terminate horizontally or in an arch.
The latter is semicircular in Early Christian and Romanesque architecture and pointed in Gothic buildings, where it is often decorated with tracery. The Romanesque circular wheel window, divided by mullions arranged like spokes, was the predecessor of the traceried Gothic rose windows. Windows with semicircular heads were often coupled by central columns in Romanesque churches. Gothic windows are divided horizontally by narrow stone mullions.
Although the Renaissance and the Baroque took up the semicircular arch again, windows with a horizontal head, surmounted by a triangular or flat segmental gable occurred more frequently. Oval windows and windows of no determinate form are by no means rare in Baroque architecture. The wooden window frame has been known only since the Renaissance.
graphic arts, graphic arts principles, relief process, intaglio process, flat process, printing of graphic arts, technical terms, checking process, contemporary artists
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