GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Mezzotints were developed in the 17th century as a means to produce a full tonal scale from black to white. Rather than making individual marks on a plate, the artist first covers the matrix with consistent texture using a rocker, a wide flat tool with a curved end covered with tiny spikes. If inked and printed at this intermediary stage, the textured plate would produce a solid dark image. To create a design, the artist smooths areas of the plate intended to print in lighter tones.
Excerpt from
Emily Schiller, Visions of America exhibition gallery text, 2016.
NOTES
Engraving technique used to produce areas of full black and white. The engraver textures the entire plate with a rocker, producing an allover black. Then he scrapes and burnishes the metal to lighten different parts of the plate in order to produce his image.
Brigitte Baer (editor Steven A. Nash), Picasso the Printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, 1983. (exh 9/11- 10/30/1983). Drawings of instruments by Daniella Benedetti.
Mezzotints provided portrait painters with a set of stock images from which they could copy or
adapt poses, settings, and dress to satisfytheir patrons' desires to be painted in the latest fashion and
style. As a printing technique, mezzotints rely on subtle gradations of tone rather than lines to
suggest individual forms. As such, these prints were uniquely capable of conveying the texture of
fabrics and jewelry. As a result, mezzotints were often used to make copies of paintings.
In the era before photography, prints were the principal means of advertising an artist's abilities to
a wide audience. Because they were rapidly made and easily distributed, prints also were used to
advertise the latest fashions. Mezzotints are made when an artist pits a metal plate with a "rocker,"
a tool covered with tiny spikes. These make deep indentations in the metal plate. When the artist
finished rocking the plate he inks it, places a sheet of paper on top of the plate, and runs it through
a press. The resulting image is a solid, velvety black. The artist then uses a smoothing tool to bring
out highlights and create an image in an impressive range of light and dark tones rather than lines.
Prints, both individually and bound into books, traveled to the colonies and were often the only works
of art in colonists' homes. Paintingswere expensive, and artists were mainly self-taught sign painters
who painted folk-art style portraits for wealthy clients. Patrons asked to be depicted in the latest
fashions imported from London and Paris, clothes that they might not own or be able to afford, and
often a mezzotint was used as a guide. As a result, many colonial portraits resemble these prints.
The books in this exhibitionare illustrated with mezzotints that provided inspiration for several of the
compositions found in the paintings in this exhibition.
"American Portraiture: Mezzotints," DMA research document, n.d., Education files.
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General Description
Mezzotints were developed in the 17th century as a means to produce a full tonal scale from black to white. Rather than making individual marks on a plate, the artist first covers the matrix with consistent texture using a rocker, a wide flat tool with a curved end covered with tiny spikes. If inked and printed at this intermediary stage, the textured plate would produce a solid dark image. To create a design, the artist smooths areas of the plate intended to print in lighter tones.
Excerpt from
Emily Schiller, Visions of America exhibition gallery text, 2016.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Engraving technique used to produce areas of full black and white. The engraver textures the entire plate with a rocker, producing an allover black. Then he scrapes and burnishes the metal to lighten different parts of the plate in order to produce his image.
Brigitte Baer (editor Steven A. Nash), Picasso the Printmaker: Graphics from the Marina Picasso Collection, Dallas Museum of Art, 1983. (exh 9/11- 10/30/1983). Drawings of instruments by Daniella Benedetti.
Mezzotints provided portrait painters with a set of stock images from which they could copy or
adapt poses, settings, and dress to satisfytheir patrons' desires to be painted in the latest fashion and
style. As a printing technique, mezzotints rely on subtle gradations of tone rather than lines to
suggest individual forms. As such, these prints were uniquely capable of conveying the texture of
fabrics and jewelry. As a result, mezzotints were often used to make copies of paintings.
In the era before photography, prints were the principal means of advertising an artist's abilities to
a wide audience. Because they were rapidly made and easily distributed, prints also were used to
advertise the latest fashions. Mezzotints are made when an artist pits a metal plate with a "rocker,"
a tool covered with tiny spikes. These make deep indentations in the metal plate. When the artist
finished rocking the plate he inks it, places a sheet of paper on top of the plate, and runs it through
a press. The resulting image is a solid, velvety black. The artist then uses a smoothing tool to bring
out highlights and create an image in an impressive range of light and dark tones rather than lines.
Prints, both individually and bound into books, traveled to the colonies and were often the only works
of art in colonists' homes. Paintingswere expensive, and artists were mainly self-taught sign painters
who painted folk-art style portraits for wealthy clients. Patrons asked to be depicted in the latest
fashions imported from London and Paris, clothes that they might not own or be able to afford, and
often a mezzotint was used as a guide. As a result, many colonial portraits resemble these prints.
The books in this exhibitionare illustrated with mezzotints that provided inspiration for several of the
compositions found in the paintings in this exhibition.
"American Portraiture: Mezzotints," DMA research document, n.d., Education files.
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