Fine art includes a wide range of various techniques. Some of them appear along with technological progress, its inventions and discoveries. Like the subject of our talk today. In the article we will tell you what linocut is, a lot of interesting facts about it. Let's start with a general definition.
What is called linocut?
Linocut is an engraving on linoleum, a printed illustrative form of the so-called letterpress. The image is cut by the artist on linoleum canvas, and then printed on paper, cardboard.
Linoleum is an excellent material for large prints. Artists mainly use canvases with a thickness of 2.5-5 mm. The necessary tools do not differ from those used to create longitudinal engravings: a knife for cutting small elements, longitudinal and angular chisels - for large ones.
Linocut is a work for which the same printing inks are used as for printing woodcuts. A certain amount of pigment is rolled on the surface of the material with a roller mass. It is necessary to monitor compliance with the required volume of the applied dye: when there is a lot of it, it can fill in small details, when it is small, there will be ugly spaces on the print.
World history of linocut
The history of linocut begins at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. - it was then that linoleum was invented. For the first time, it became material for creativity in 1905 - it was used by German artists of the "Bridge" association. It was not only curiosity that spurred them to the novelty: to use the engraving technique in large-format printing, the area of sawing a tree, traditional for end-face woodcuts, was not enough.
Linocut is a technique in which such craftsmen worked as:
- A. Matisse;
- F. Mazarel;
- P. Picasso;
- M. Escher;
- B. Angelo;
- D. Erickson;
- H. Tompkins;
- C. Power;
- A. Botello;
- T. Billman;
- J. Gnezdovsky;
- E. Russe;
- C. Schmidt-Rottluf;
- H. Yuvonen;
- W. Kermode;
- F. Bleil;
- Folly Cove Designers group and so on.
Later, the art of not only monochrome, but also color linocut developed: 4-7 matrices were used, from which a print was made. In the United States, C. Anderson became the pioneer of this trend in the forties of the last century. Linocut painting techniques are also used in gouache, watercolor, and other pigments.
Today, artists work in this direction:
- B. Fike;
- G. Baselitz;
- S. Donwood and others.
Russian history of linocut
The first in our country began to create engravings on linoleum N. Sheverdyaev, a student of V. Mate. His works were exhibited in Paris in 1907. The development of linocut can be traced in the works of I. Pavlov. He began to use the technique since 1909 to design covers for children's books and create illustrations for them. So linocut replaced the previously used zincography and lithography.
In 1914, the Tsar Bell calendar for 1916 was released with 12 color linocuts by I. Pavlov. Then the engraver began to use the technique to decorate book bindings. Linocut was becoming more and more popular in Russia: the lack of zinc, the material necessary for zincography, affected.
In Russia, the new technique has been successfully used both for creating book illustrations and for easel engraving. In their work they used it:
- A. Deineco;
- L. Ilyina;
- B. Kustodiev;
- D. Mitrokhin;
- G. Zakharov;
- D. Bruchanov;
- K. Kostenko;
- I. Golitsyn;
- V. Falileev;
- V. Tabor;
- B. Zamirailo;
- P. Staronosov;
- A. Kravchenko and others.
V. Falileev is considered the pioneer of the use of color engraving techniques in our country. The artist worked in the genre of multi-color engraving-landscape.
Work technique
Consider linocut as an engraving technique. It is one of the easiest to perform, similar to woodcut. The artist’s work process looks something like this:
- Cork linoleum is taken, the thickness of which is approximately equal to 3 mm. A sketch of a drawing is transferred from tracing paper to it.
- On the contour with the help of different chisels, knives, the artist cuts out figures for his image.
- The next step is rolling a special pigment paint (pigment + liquid binder) onto the relief parts of the image.
- The painted side linoleum is printed on paper, as a result of which a contrasting pattern appears on it - its stroke is black (or of a different color), and the background is white (or of a different color of paper).
Necessary materials
After we answered the question “Linocut - how is it made?”, We analyze the materials that are necessary to create a work:
- Linoleum. Special material for creativity is produced, on which it is convenient to work with calms. For home creativity, you can use household linoleum, but the tools on it can behave unpredictably.
- To work, you need a set of chisels (they are also incisors, shtikheli). The following forms of their metal tip are mainly used: angular, box-shaped, radial and flat.
- The paint is non-quick-drying, moderately thick. Such characteristics include printing, acrylic, gouache, special pigment for linocut. For acrylic, an additional retarder is required. To print the image on the fabric, you need textile paint.
- To apply the dye, rollers are used: classic printing, roll-mass (glycerin-gelatin), ordinary rubber for wallpaper.
- Material for the print - paper, cardboard, fabric, wood. As for paper, varieties with a density of 160 g / m 2 are used .
- Press. For mass production of drawings using a press etching machine. At home - rolling pin, spoon, roller.
- In addition, artists use a drying inhibitor, a medium to fix the dye on the fabric.
Distinctive features of linocut
Art historians note that linocut is a technique that artists use, whose work is expressive, concise, contrasting. The following distinguishing features of the artistic method are also highlighted:
- Low cost of material.
- Easier, in comparison with other engraving techniques, to work with color.
- The compliance of the material to the cutter.
- The decorativeness of the image is higher than on wooden engraving: the stroke of the image is smoother, cleaner, smoother.
- Unlike woodcuts: the stroke is not sharp, but smooth, wider, rounded at the ends, but at the same time having tight borders.
The artists try to diversify some of the limitations of the technique, the sharp contrast that manifests itself with new methods of parallel, cross-hatching, staining.
Features of black and white linocuts
We highlight the features of creating black and white engraving:
- Used well-dried, smooth and fairly thick (from 2.5 mm) linoleum. Of great value to artists is the material from old apartments. For small prints, it is replaced with PVC plastic.
- Black ink is applied to the material. Thick lines are drawn with a pen, thin lines with a brush. Sometimes an artist simply prints a finished drawing on linoleum.
- To cut the texture used dashed manner.
- The image is cropped using cropped woodcut techniques.
- Imprint - the use of a special machine or grinding with a brush.
Features of color linocuts
We highlight the key features here:
- For each color, its own stamp is prepared.
- The image is printed in layers. In this case, the artist takes into account the fact that when applying two specific colors one on another, a new shade appears.
- For imprinting the image, a tool is used - a board with corners made of linoleum. First, the engraving of the first color is superimposed on the corners, aligned, the paper is rubbed to it. Then the sheet is carefully pushed back, a second engraving is applied to the corners and the paper is also ground. The process continues until all of the intended color stamps are exhausted.
Now you know what linocut, its history, creation technique, features are. You can try yourself in such a business yourself, having previously bought everything you need for creativity.