Introductory description

This module will introduce students to a range of printmaking techniques and practices used from the early Renaissance onwards.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Durer’s Printmaking
Rembrandt's Etchings
Hogarth: High Art and Satire
Gillray and the Art of Caricature
The aesthetics of printmaking in the late nineteenth century
German Expressionist printmaking
Japanese Printmaking
Pop Art and Print

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Distinguish between different types of prints, and show an understanding of the historical development of print-making techniques
• Analyse prints in their historical context, and show an understanding of their social, political and aesthetic meanings
• Demonstrate awareness of cultural and theoretical issues pertaining to reproduction, and the distinctions between “high” and “low” culture.
• Present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• Ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• Familiarity with essential ICT skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• Ability to formulate a sustained argument
• Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual analysis
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level

Indicative reading list

Giulia Bartrum, German Renaissance Prints, 1490-1550 (London, 1995)
Holm Bevers, Rembrandt: The Master and his Workshop: Drawings and Etchings (New Haven and London, 1991)
Tim Clayton, The English Print, 1688-1802 (New Haven and London, 1997)
Diana Donald, The Age of Caricature: Satirical Prints in the Reign of George III (New Haven and London, 1996)
Gustave Doré, London: A Pilgrimage (various editions)
Anthony Griffiths, Prints and Printmaking: an Introduction to the History and Techniques (London, 1996)
Anthony Griffiths, The Print in Stuart Britain, 1603-1689 (London, 1998)
Mark Hallett, The Spectacle of Difference: Graphic Satire in the Age of Hogarth (New Haven and London, 1999)
William Ivins, Prints and Visual Communication (London, 1953)
Susan Lambert, Prints: Art and Techniques (London, 2001)
Erwin Panofsky, The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer (New York, 1955)
Peter Sinnema, Dynamics of the Printed Page: Representing the Nation in the Illustrated London News (Aldershot, 1998)

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

• distinguish between different types of prints, and show an understanding of the historical development of print-making techniques
• analyse prints in their historical context, and show an understanding of their social, political and aesthetic meanings
• demonstrate awareness of cultural and theoretical issues pertaining to reproduction, and the distinctions between “high” and “low” culture.
• Demonstrate sophisticated visual analysis
• Demonstrate critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Demonstrate bibliographical skills at an appropriate level