Workshop : Identification of Prints

This four-day course is aimed at professionals from museums and cultural institutions and offers an immersion into the world of prints. The various techniques will be presented in their historical context and their technical processes will be explained in detail. The course is given in English by conservator Hildegard Homburger.

The artistic and reproduction printing techniques undergo a constant development. Modern technology allows a great variety of relief, intaglio, lithography, screen and digital prints. Therefore the artistic print is no longer restricted to the classical techniques, but artists are using the modern technologies. So, in identifying prints, we are confronted as well with traditional techniques as well with industrial and photomechanical techniques.

Within the total number of photomechanical prints, artistic works represent only a small part. With the introduction of photography in the19th century, printers no longer had to transfer the image manually onto the printing surface but were offered the possibility to transfer the image by sensitizing the printing surface and exposing it to light, through a negative or positive depending on the printing technique.
With computer technology, negative or positive film is often no longer necessary. The image is transformed into dots by the computer and the image is transferred to the printing surface by light exposure in the machine.

The workshop aims to immerse us in the world of prints, presenting the various techniques in their historical context and explaining their technical processes.

Booking essential (limited number of participants) per module (you are free to choose to take part in one or both modules).

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Module 1 : Identification of Prints – Tuesday 22 et Wednesday 23 october 2024

In this course the classical artistic techniques will be presented in their historical context and technical procedures. Each technique and its variations will be explained with slide lectures.

In the practical sessions original samples of the different techniques will be examined under magnification. Several microscopes are provided. Looking at the original print will reveal the distinctive characteristics of each technique and offer practice in the identification of prints.

The two-day seminar provides an opportunity to look at a great number and variety of original prints under magnification and to practice the identification of their techniques.

Module 2 : Identification of Photomechanical Prints – Thursday 24 et Friday 25 october 2024

Since their invention photomechanical printing techniques have continued to develop further. There are many similar variations of the same technique, each named differently by its inventor. This can be very confusing in the process of identification.
In this seminar the most important photomechanical techniques of relief, intaglio, planographic, screen and digital prints will be presented.

The different techniques (artistic and reproduction) will be examined by studying original prints under magnification. Two participants will share a stereomicroscope. The distinctive characteristics of each technique will be worked out through close looking at the original prints, as exercises in identification.

The two-day course provides an opportunity to look at a great number and variety of original prints under magnification and to develop skills in the identification of their techniques. There will also be the opportunity to compare photomechanical with manual prints.

Trainer : Hildegard Homburger

Hildegard Homburger is a Paper Conservator in private practice in Berlin, Germany. She is a guest lecturer at Technical University Berlin and has taught at many institutions, including Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart, Studiengang Restaurierung und Konservierung von Grafik-, Archiv- und Bibliotheksgut, and the J P Getty-Foundation post graduate internship at Williamstown Art Conservation Center in Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA.

Crédit photo : C. Timacheff

Two-module course given in English

From 9:30am to 5:00pm

Lieu

Musée L

Prix

350 per module (includes training materials, lunch and coffee breaks)

Workshop : Identification of Prints

- More information on the course content

-
More information on the course content