Screenprint

A variety of stencil printing, using a screen made from fabric (silk or synthetic) stretched tightly over a frame

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
*Bash* (1971)
Tate

© The Eduardo Paolozzi Foundation

The non-printing areas on the fabric are blocked out by a stencil. This can be created by painting on glue or lacquer, by applying adhesive film or paper, or painting a light-sensitive resist onto the screen which is then developed as a photograph (photo-screenprint). Ink or paint is then forced through the (non-blocked areas of) open fabric with a rubber blade, known as a squeegee, onto the paper.

Screenprinting has been used commercially since the 1920s. It first began to be used by artists in 1930s America and the term ‘serigraph’ was initially used to denote an artist’s print, as opposed to commercial work. It has been widely used by artists as a printmaking technique since the 1950s.

The term ‘silkscreen’ (silk was originally used for the mesh) is also commonly used to describe the technique, particularly in America.

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Left Right

Print

A print is an impression made by any method involving transfer from one surface to another
Intaglio

Intaglio describes any printmaking technique in which the image is produced by incising into the printing plate – the incised line or area holds the ink and creates the image
Monoprint

The monoprint is a form of printmaking where the image can only be made once, unlike most printmaking which allows for multiple originals
Woodcut

A method of relief printing from a block of wood cut along the grain

explore this term

From the Green Box to Typo/Topography: Duchamp and Hamilton’s Dialogue in Print

Paul Thirkell

This paper examines Marcel Duchamp's use of the collotype printing process for publishing the contents of his Green Box and Boîte-en-valise in the 1930s. It subsequently traces the linguistic and graphic interpretations of this work by the British artist Richard Hamilton in his 1960 The Green Book and in his recent fusion of this work with the 'topography' of the Large Glass in the print Typo/Topography, published in 2003.
Richard Hamilton’s The annunciation

Fanny Singer

This article traces Richard Hamilton’s use of photography and digital technologies to subtly undermine verisimilitude in his print The annunciation 2005. Making numerous comparisons to Fra Angelico’s San Marco Annunciation, the work that inspired Hamilton’s print, the article aims to deconstruct the latter both technically and iconographically.
Paolozzi’s Pop New Brutalist World

Alex Potts

In its engagement with mass media and modern industry, the work of Eduardo Paolozzi combined pop tendencies with the logic of new brutalism, as Alex Potts explores.