Friday, December 01, 2006

Hardship & Joy

About a week ago I visited the Prints Study Room at Met (the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Now I truly believe that the hidden treasure of any museum, if they have one, is the Prints’ archive and in the Met they have an unbelievable collection. I love prints especially Japanese prints of 18 and 19 century. But I started to appreciate printmaking more after I paid a visit to the Prints study room at Met where I realized how much work is needed to make a single print board or a metal plate; hardship and joy together, I guess.

Among the various printmaking techniques* I like Lithography the best. It will be interesting to see the Met collection of Drawings and Prints. But you better know that due to the sensitivity to light of works on paper, selections from the collection are featured in temporary exhibitions. The permanent collection of this department at Met comprises approximately 11,000 drawings and 1.5 million prints. Huge isn't it!



Jane Avril, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Lithograph/Poster, 1899


Skaters, Sybil Andrews, Linocut, 1953


The Three Trees, Rembrandt, Etching-Drypiont-Engraving, 1643




* The basic techniques of printmaking are: Woodcut, Engraving, Etching, Mezzotint, Aquatint, Drypoint, Lithography, Screen-printing and Digital Prints.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

salam golam.mer30 be khatere in hame lotfi ke behem dari.kheili doostet daram.boooooooooos