Aquatint

A means of etching tonal values which look rather like ink or watercolor washes. The technique can be used to produce shaded areas that range from light to dark and is useful where atmospheric tones may impart realism and/or drama.

Art Deco

A popular design of the 1920's and 1930's characterized by bold outlines, geometric and zigzag forms.

Art Nouveau

A painting, printmaking, decorative design, and architectural style developed in England in the 1880s. Art Nouveau, primarily an ornamental style, was not only a protest against the sterile Realism, but against the whole drift toward industrialization and mechanization and the unnatural artifacts they produced. The style is characterized by the usage of sinuous, graceful, cursive lines, interlaced patterns, flowers, plants, insects and other motifs inspired by nature.

Chromolithograph

Lithographs printed in at least three colors.

Copperplate Engraving

Illustrations produced when the original printing plate was engraved on copper; this method was introduced before the end of the 15th century and was used exclusively until 1820 when steel facing was introduced, enabling many more copies to be made. They replaced the woodcut, which reappeared later on.

Etching

An etching begins with a metal plate, (usually copper) which has been coated with waxy substance called a "ground". The artist creates the composition by drawing through the ground to expose the metal. The plate is then immersed in an acid bath that "bites" or chemically dissolves the exposed lines.

Foxing

Brown spots in paper due to chemical reactions of impurities naturally present in the paper with atmospheric oxygen, or due to fungal attack. Light foxing is quite characteristic of old imprints and is not considered a defect unless it detracts from eye appeal or legibility.

Heliogravures

The process involves two distinct steps. First, in a complex photochemical procedure that creates the intaglio surface, the photographic image is fixed and etched upon a specially prepared copper plate. The finished plate is then placed on a hand-turned press, and the image is printed onto dampened etching paper using special inks.

Lithograph

Lithography is a direct printing method, which utilizes the antipathy of water and grease. A drawing is made directly on thick limestone, or a zinc or paper plate with a greasy pencil, crayon or ink (tusche). The tusche may be diluted with solvents and brushed on in washes to produce tones from light to very dark.

Mezzotint

A reverse engraving process used on a copper or steel plate to produce illustrations in relief with effects of light and shadow. The surface of a master plate is roughened with a tool called a rocker so that if inked, it will print solid black. The areas to be white or gray in the print are rubbed down so as not to take ink.

Pochoir

A stencil and stencil-brush process used to make multicolor prints, for tinting black and white prints, and for coloring reproductions and book illustrations, especially fine and limited editions. Pochoir, which is the French word for stencil, is sometimes called hand coloring or hand illustration.

Stipple

In etching and engraving, a method of rendering tone by means of dots and short strokes.

Woodblock

Originally, the piece of wood from which a woodcut or wood engraving was made. A woodblock print now carries the connotation of a woodcut made from a block of fine-grained wood, which provides a subtle grain pattern and enables the cutter to create more precise lines.

Wove Paper

Paper manufactured on a screen of brass wires all of the same weight that has been woven to produce an even, smooth surface. The paper itself is smooth and free of visible marks from the wires.