Hello! For today, I wanted to try and find a book to look at, to try and find some more abstract imagery that's lead with more heart and complex backgrounds compared to my usual cases or just finding pretty images online.
I feel like I should talk about why I am even doing a book anyway to find inspiration and research, and it's mainly because I just want a more diverse research portfolio, along with just liking these images already. I won't go too deep into the individual artists that make these pictures because I already did a little research about these people and these all have thousands of pieces of art that have sold for millions, so you know their stuff is deep.
I honestly don't feel like wasting more time talking about why I chose to do this and trying to find history about this book has been quite
challenging. The only thing I could find in the book is who designed it, and who it was to
print these by, in which were done by Tamasin Cole and Collins and Walterstow London ECI. it isn't very helpful but still, I can assume from context clues like seeing that there are many different versions of these books made by the Marlborough Graphic Gallary to aid designers specifically german artists to create prints. The fact they're prints is also only a coincidence, I'm much more interested in looking at these as the design of the graphic rather than the fact they're prints, but I might look at these different printing practices to see how they work. Okay, first one.
This is the first graphic that I wanted to look at. I found this quite interesting since this looks so realistic, like a photograph, but due to the fact I am limited to 10 citations to use for this entire project I don't wanna look any further than the individual pages I have been given here.
Now, compared to my other sort of analyses, this will have more than the usual five points that I bring up because for this I wanna talk a little more about the info provided as well. This is because it's a good way to look at more creative ways I could make a final product and test things I didn't originally think were possible, along with it just being fun to talk about.
Here we can see that this is a piece called Die Carmagnole, made in 1901. As we can say, it talks about how it's used etching and aquatint, both are ways to get rid of metal surfaces to create a reusable print along with it keeping a very high-quality look. We can also see that they have used dark brown ink, which I will talk more about in the section where we talk about the graphic itself. It also says that this is Felsing, which when translated is an old nickname for a tall person, which could be referring to the strong portrait ratio this takes. I have looked up what Klipstein 49 means and from what I can gather it is the specific run of this print we see here.
So, Who made this piece? From the straightforward and clear explanation, this was originally designed by Kathe Kollwitz, and since she doesn't know how to make mass-production prints, she got Seeman, Leipzig to turn it into a print to be made into mass production. We could also count the actors too but they weren't responsible for this going into production so I don't think it's necessary.
What makes up this piece? On the graphic side, this seems to be a whole bunch of people surrounding a guillotine in what seems to be a more urbanised area for 1901. I feel like the name Die Carmagnole would tell us an awful lot more about the composition of this piece but due to the set limit of 10, we shall work within our boundaries. I interpret this as a whole bunch of people, who look quite sick, lusting for the sweet release of death, which is why they're reaching their hands out to the guillotine.
When was this piece made? Well very luckily, on the page that this is shown, it also has the date made, 1901. Now, I don't exactly know much about the art movement back then but this definitely looks like it's from 1901, with the very harsh blacks being used, along with how the people look and the topic at hand, this really reminds me of it. The time has definitely influenced the look of this piece since it wasn't as profitable to make multiple coloured prints, they made it all in black due to the older processes back then, which for this was aquatint and etching. The look of the buildings is also instinctually old since at least for myself I recognise that architecture as an older building, along with the roads being made from pebbles and the fact there is a guillotine.
Where was this made? Well, seeing that this book mainly consists of german artists, I could only assume that this lady was also german. This could have shaped how this piece looked due to Germany having much different architecture compared to the UK, or the clothes that they're wearing are distinctly german, but apart from these two main keys I'm not too sure why Germany would influence how this piece looks, maybe Germany back then was known for having excellent printing services, since I know german was the first language the bible was translated to, along with made in another country besides Israel, but apart from that I have no idea.
Why did the artist make this? I am honestly not too sure for a fact. Maybe during this time there was a virus spreading around that was making people very very ill, and this could be a piece to contribute to them about how they lust for the sweet release of death, or instead that this could be symbolism of how the unwell and poor's only way out of their situation is through death, since the people don't look to have the most money, but that's all guesswork from content clues and making things up.
Okay, honestly that wasn't as bad as I thought. It was quite fun to talk about this piece in such detail, and pick up on the subtle nuances, Sadly though, this book doesn't show well the materials used and how it feels, although I could experiment with that in later days, or if we have enough budget or time, let's see! But let's move on to the next one :3
This is the second one I wanted to have a look at. I think it's a really cool mixture of a more sketchy style combined with the visual "see what you draw" mentality that our other artist, Lucinda Rogers, has. I prefer this style for the project though due to its rougher shape, which leaves you to see that it has a lot more upsetting aura around it, and this project is supposed to be how I define myself by the things that have happened in my life.
But since this is a book about printing, we should have a look at the details of materials and processes. This one was made using drypoint.
For a little more information, drypoint is very similar to etching, but the main difference is that this is made with a hard pointed, or diamond-tipped "needle" and that the material originally used to print is copper, due to its properties being great for it. We can also see that this is used with dark brown ink, and I suspect the reason why they used this rather than blank is that it's easier to get your hands on, or that the dark brown ink when dry had a better-looking black. We also see that this says that it has "plate tone", and doing a little research tells us that when the in is not wiped away from the printing plate, which lets some parts of the ink be a whole lot lighter compared to other places in the print, which is displayed here. It then tells us that this was printed on Japanese Paper, which I could only assume is very good for precise ink lines like how this piece has. After such, it tells us that this Is stamped on the back with Kirchner's signature, since it seems that he doesn't sign them traditionally, and finally it talks about a pressure crack made by uneven pressure during the printing process on the lower right. Now I am not too sure if I am crazy or not but I cannot see it, but I guess I'll have to believe whoever wrote this.
So, Who made this piece? Well, the only name that is credited to this piece is indeed Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, so it must be him.
That was a little lacklustre compared to my analysis of what materials were used to create this, but I won't let it slow me down any further than it already has. What is this piece made up of? Well from what I could assume, this piece is made up by mainly of the two circus tents. shaped buildings. I could assume these are bars due to the other things in this picture, like the black scribes around these bars that could be people, along with the couples dancing on the main floor at the bottom and middle go the picture. In the top right is where the stage, where live music is playing, along with a couple of tables of people drinking. at the top of the image and mainly on the upper middle and upper left is
another floor for people to watch, which is shown by many people. This is all accompanied by black smudges across the entire paper, which for me gives it a sense of grittiness as if this was drawn by somebody who isn't as fancy as these other people illustrated, and yet he is there. I should probably also highlight the fact that I know I am talking about the compassion of what it is made from, but that's because we have already talked about the materials used and the processes too.
(UPDATE: Looking at the piece of art a little deeper, it appears that rather than the two big things in the middle being bars instead I think they are chandeliers instead, which makes an awful lot of sense, although it doesn't describe the black line underneath them, I am not too sure what that is)
Where was this piece made? Well, looking up the title of this piece lead me to a page about an old building that has the same open floor to dance on, along with the stage people can sing on and the upstairs rafters where people can watch from above. With the photo provided, you can see it's surprisingly similar to the illustration of the place, with the rafters. stage and dance floor. In this photo, you could even guess where he was in the room as he envisioned what was happening. Doing more research into it, I found out Dresden is a capital city of a state in Germany. Overall though, the environment changed the look of the print here, since the only inspiration of his was looking down upon the people as they were dancing. I don't think the city of Dresden affected the print though, due to me not knowing enough about the art culture of the area to say.
When was this piece made? Now, you may have noticed I did the where first, before the when. This is because the time of the place matters a lot and is more detrimental to nest what it looks like in the modern day. This print was illustrated back in 1910, so
there are multiple things different about the modern version compared to the original place. Although the architecture looks roughly the same, things like the Sunni on the face floor, or the lack of bars in the modern-day one simply disappeared with time sadly enough. It also wasn't abandoned unlike the one of today, since the webpage I'm getting this information from, but instead bustling with only what looked to be the rich and powerful. It also has finely. had some sort of redoing between 1910 and now, due to a different-looking stage amongst other small imperfections, unless that was a part of the artist's style to make the venue look grander than it was. The time of the creation o this piece also explains why this used the method of the dry point since it's a very rudimentary way to create prints compared to the modern day, in which we have more advanced techniques like printing and silk screening.
Why was this piece made? Well, I could only assume that this was made out of the passion of his own heart, rather than anything else. I would do a bunch of research to find out the reason why he made it, but because I am lazy, I don't think I will do that. Instead, though, I can assume, and I am assuming that he simply wanted to create a piece to document his travels rather than it being a comment on a sort of political view at the time, a world issue, etc.
This is the final piece I will be analysing. I think this piece is overall quite interesting, for rather ten it is based on real life, instead, it is a semi-complete piece that is made up in the mind of Paul. I find this one quite interesting and fanatic with its unusual ligaments, its warped legs, the patterns on the head of this beast and its look of wacky proportions. I also like the use of having a dirtier and lighter amount of ink stains compared to other pieces, it does not look intentional, which I think makes it even more beautiful. As I said last time, this is a book about printing graphics, so we should probably look at the details provided.
This first starts us off with the main type o printing used for this, which is Lithographing. This is the process of drawing onto materials like limestone or zinc with a special oil-based pen that's made for lithographic work or just regular ink, and after treatment using chemicals over it, the oil-based ink or crayon is activated using said chemicals, citing a little bit into the limestone, along with making the surface that has been erected by the
chemicals become water absorbent whilst repelling ink, whilst the design instead holds the ink and doesn't like the water. This method of printing can leave little artefacts as we see here, that is due to the fact that this probably was drawn with ink, so the same artefacts with suede ink also show in the lithograph. Enough about lithographs though, let's look into the other parts. This piece is printed on cream wove paper, a paper made using a wooden mould with a brass wire cloth inside, where the pulp to make paper would be poured in, giving it its distinct texture and feel. We can also read that this is using two separate states. The first state I couldn't find, but this second, final one is the one I could find in the book, but the fact this has two states open up that this is multiple layers of lithographing, and using perhaps different inks and deepness when it came to the lithograph, but we don't have enough information to make claims like such. We also see that these are numbered, this is copy 14 out of the 16 originally made. This tool also has full margins. This basically means that whatever size this was printed out on it hasn't been touched since. This is also signed at "Narrate Litho". We also have the place that owns this piece, Lyonel Feininger. The work number is also provided but that's not very important for this.
Well, who made this piece? This was made by Paul Klee, and it doesn't say anybody else has made this since it doesn't look like he has had an influence from any of the artists that I know from the time.
Hey, compared to the last time I wrote about who made a piece, this is a whole lot better. Well, what makes up this piece? Well, we mainly have this character in the middle. We don't exactly know what this thing is, but it seems to have two people inside of it. The head at the top looks to be inspired by birds, along with a more human illustration of a face around what it could be called the crotch area. It seems to have a lot of arms, some with incredible amounts of shading, whilst others are cruder in both shape and detail. It also seems that the head on top seems to be wearing a hat, and honestly, it reminds me of the one Elton John wears in his phoenix suit in Rocket Man, with bedazzlement on the side of the helmet, along with the cross at the top of his head which could be some religious symbol, but I'm not in the mood to analyse this piece that deeply. I could also assume that this is a little bit of the cubism that he is known for, since there seem to be two people in this drawing mangled into one, with two sets of legs and two sets of arms. We have an overall use of surprisingly straight and accurate lines that give it a surreal kind of feeling throughout the piece of a mix of crude and tidy.
Now, when was this piece made? This piece was made in 1910 when lithographing and woven paper have been out for around 100 years, but the surreal and cubism motifs were popular around the 1910s, which explains the abstract look and the overall theme of his work. Apart from this though, I think these are the only defining characteristics that link this to the 1910's year.
Well, where was this made? I have no idea. This doesn't say where it was made and I feel like I am cheating the book by looking to try and find where this was made, and even if I knew where this was made, which I could only assume Germis any, I don't think it affected how this looked. Unless there's some information I am missing and there was an especially big push of surreal art in Germany around the time too, but that's about all I can think about.
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