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Printmaking Defined
Pure Abstraction in the Prints of
Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian painter who played a major role inthe development of abstract art. Music was the inspiration for his paintings which were among the first purely abstract works in modern art. They do not depict objects in the natural world, but express relationships of form (lines, shapes and colors) and emotions in a non-literal way.
Because Kandinsky’s images don’t represent real objects, we call them nonobjective or non-representational abstraction.
Kandinsky created a separate world in his work. It is a world where lines and colors and shapes interact much like musical notes and chords in a song.
Kandinsky’s idea was that art is a language that can express ideas, relationships, and emotions in a visual form.
Do you think an abstract visual image can convey an idea like “speed” or “dance” or “anger”?
Most of the prints of Kandinsky’s work that you see in these slides were done with color lithography, a planographic printing process. Planographic means that the plate was flat with no raised or carved out parts. A simple planographic process that uses a flat plate is the monotype. Mono means “one” so only one print is produced by this process.
The Monotype Process
1. For the plate, a hard smooth surface like Plexiglass works well. First, ink is applied. It can be rolled on with a brayer and smaller shapes painted in with a brush. You can draw into the coating of ink with the blunt end of a paintbrush and remove areas with a Q-tip or cloth.
2. When the plate is ready, cover it with a sheet of paper and apply pressure with a clean brayer, a rolling pin, or a baren.
3. Carefully peel the paper away from the plate and allow it to dry.
