Photogravure Prints - Latest prints available now

Recent Work

I have been having a busy few months in the studio working with my cyanotypes, and I have also been experimenting with a new printmaking method called photogravure.

I have posted some pictures on Instagram and several people have asked about it, so I thought I would give you a brief description of how I do it.

Photogravure

This is a 19th Century technique whereby an image is transferred to an etching plate, and hand printed on a traditional press.

Beloved by photographers such as Steichen and Steiglitz, the photogravure process has been described as producing some of the ‘most beautiful and tactile images ever made, with a rich velvety matte surface, deep shadows, delicate half tones, and luminous highlights.’

Making a Photogravure Print

I start by taking the image I want to print and edit using the Photoshop curves tool. It works well with a specific tweak to bring up the shadow areas of the original picture. I found a photogravure curve that works for me by researching online.

(It needs to be positive version of the image, not a negative as used for cyanotype.)

I then print it onto acetate before the next step…

The Plate

Like most modern printmakers I use photopolymer plates rather than the old style copper plates. Photopolymer plates are contact printed with the acetate and exposed with UV light. They are then developed with water.

Once I have developed and hardened the plate, I ink it up and carefully wipe off the excess. It is quite a lengthy process - each inking and wiping of the plate can take me up to 20 minutes.

The print is ready when the highlights are polished clean, while trying to retain enough ink in the shadows. It’s a tricky balance!

The Paper

I pre-soak the printmaking paper in water and blot it dry. When it goes through the press it is forced into the indentations on the plate and it picks up all the details from the inked surface, as well as forming the lovely impression around the edge of the image.

(It sounds a bit stupid, but one of the reasons I was keen to try it was to get the platemark around the print. I love the way that you can see how it has been made - it’s just not the same in a digital print, however good, and however nice the paper!)

Mistakes

You may notice in the picture above that the plate has not been cut perfectly, which illustrates an important point for me. I began to investigate this process as a creative exercise because I was starting to feel a bit constrained by the urge to get my cyanotypes exactly ‘right.’

I decided to reinterpret some of my images in this new medium. Printmaking can be (in my hands at least) very messy, and there are lots of failures along the way, but those unintentional happenings are for me often where creativity is sparked and ideas take a different turn.

For example, the print of Jonny (below) was one of the first I made. Technically it is probably ‘wrong’ as much of the original image is actually lost in deep shadow, but when I took it off the press I started to get a feel for the potential of the process. I love the way the form emerges from the darkness in quite a sculptural way, and I have been working towards the feeling of that in my subsequent prints.

The Aesthetic

I am also captivated by the soft velvety blacks and the tactility of the prints on heavyweight cotton rag paper. This picture of a Black Headed Gull has a combination of grainy blur and sharply defined detail that I think works so well with photogravure.

*Bird II 2023* (Burnt Umber mixed into the black ink lends warmth to this bird print)

There are many ways to use this printing method. Some artists work with multiple plates, others combine it with screen printing, or draw onto acetate and transfer this to their plates.

I am interested in printing on different papers such as Japanese Washi. I am also getting out my film cameras this week and some old Black and White film that has been sitting in my fridge since lockdown. I can’t wait to see how the graininess of film is rendered in photogravure.

I have just put a selection of new Photogravure prints in my website shop.

If you’re looking for a Mother’s Day gift, any prints purchased at the weekend will be sent out early next week, so packages posted to a UK destination should arrive before 19th March.