by Teresa Carr
|
|
Man’s earliest known attempt of the visual record of his
life began about 5,765 years ago. After the Great Deluge (The Great Flood)
that Noah, his wife, three sons and their wives began the three major
civilizations in the known world at that time. It began with the
cuneiform writings of the Sumerians. The beginnings of graphic design can go
back to the time of the cave drawings found in Lucerne, France, and in later
civilizations such as the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and
early Aramaic writings and the Book of the Law during the time of Moses and
the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. The printed word began somewhere
afterward. The Phoenicians used the first formal alphabet, the first art
forms. The evidence of the first example of printing was discovered in 1908
by an Italian archaeologist on the island of Crete. He found a clay disc in
the ruins of the palace of Phaistos in a stratification dated about 1500 B.C.
Before the invention of printing the written word was all done laboriously by
hand. The invention of printing did not put an end to the skill and art that
had gone into the illuminated manuscripts, which the monks had illustrated
with beautiful illuminations or colored pictures of the Holy Bible. Printers
followed the traditions of the monks, and turned out books of great beauty.
Artists who had copied the works of the masters turned to pen and brush to
etching and engraving in metal, so that their images could be printed in
large numbers. In 1440, Johannes Gutenberg brought the West up to date with
his invention of movable type. Historians credit his invention as the end of
the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. The uses of paper were
not new when Gutenberg’s type appeared. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, introduced
the use of parchment for writing in 170 B.C. In making ink for printing, the
Chinese lead the world in discovery by using lampblack in 400 A.D. Viscous or
tacky inks essential for printing were used in Germany by Gutenberg’s time.
Gutenberg is credited to the envisionment of commercial and cultural
possibilities of printing as a process of graphic reproduction. With the
cumulative effect of inventions of many minds in a growing civilization, we
attribute the evolution of printing as a graphic art. The first books in
Europe were printed in black letter or gothic type. They were
designed to imitate the style of letter used by religious scribes living in
Mainz, Germany, where Gutenberg began his activities. The roman letter
type came later, it would have been lost if it weren’t for Emperor
Charlemagne revived the ancient writings. Charlemagne encouraged the
establishment of a school at Tours by an English scholar, Alcuin. The
calligraphy of this school became the model for the rest of Europe. Artists
began to use lithography after 1796, and even greater numbers of images could
be printed. Photography and bookmaking are important productions of work from
early printers, engravers, artists, craftsmen, and scientists. Through England,
printing came to the American colonies. William Caxton, who brought equipment
from the Netherlands to establish a press at Westminster, introduced printing
in England about 1476. Among the books issued from Caxton’s press were
Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, Fables of Aesop, and many other
popular works. Printing was used to promote colonization of the New World.
There is on file in the New York Public Library a copy of such a promotion
piece dated 1609. It is entitled, “Offering Most Excellent Fruites by Planting
in Virginia.” One historian observed the fact that 750 of the first 900
settlers in the Virginia colonies died during the first winter was amazed at
the power of the printed word. It encouraged new settlers to come to the New
World, but also influenced the 150 survivors to remain. The fist printing
press appeared in Massachusetts in 1638, soon after the first settlers
established themselves. The first piece printed on the new pres was The
Freeman’s Oath. The Bay Psalm Book was produced in 1640. Printing
didn’t make headway in the colonies as it did in the Massachusetts Colony. It
wasn’t until 1808 that printing spread to states as far as Mississippi to St.
Louis. As migration continued west printing followed. Benjamin Franklin an
important American citizen of his time began his own printing office in
Philadelphia by 1732 and became the publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette.
Among his publications, Poor Richard’s Almanack became the most
famous. Another great patriot of the Revolutionary Period was Isaiah Thomas.
In 1770 he began publication of the Massachusetts Spy, a newspaper in
which he supported the cause of the patriots. He served during the
Revolutionary War as printer for the Massachusetts House of Assembly.
Following the war, he re-established his business, which had been destroyed.
He became one of the leading publishers of books. In 1810 he published a two
volume History of Printing in America which today remains the best source on
colonial printing. For the past 400 years all type was set by hand. In the 19th
century men began to consider the possibility of creating typesetting
machines. The first sufficient commercial machine was the invention of the
linotype by Ottmar Mergenthaler in 1886. Of the various metal composing
machines developed only two kinds are still used today. These are the Linotype,
Intertype, and Ludlow that cast slugs (one piece fully spaced
lines); and the Monotype that casts individual pieces of type in
justified lines. Tolbert Lanston of Washington, D.C invented the Monotype in
1887. Washington I. Ludlow suggested the Ludlow Typograph in 1906 and later
perfected by William A. Reade. The first illustrations in books were made from
woodcuts. They were carved out of woodblocks by hand leaving raised surfaced
designs. Albrecht Pfister in Bamberg printed the earliest book using woodcuts
about 1460. Between 1570 and 1770 illustrations in books were printed by
copperplate engravings, resulting in a decline in the making of woodcuts. In
1770 Thomas Bewick of England developed the technique of using a special
engraving tool for cutting across the grain, instead of with the grain.
Today, woodcuts are only used to give an artistic touch to certain types of
printed pieces. Around 1476, engraved copper intaglio plates the forerunner of
steel engravers and gravure, were first used in France and Italy. Copper
engraving made it competitive to woodcuts in England about 1545, and in
France about 1569. Copperplate work is still used today for invitations and
announcements. Photography for graphic arts involves the photographic
processes and techniques used to reproduce illustrations and art subjects.
The invention ans use of photography and photomechanics completed the
mechanization of the printing process; made illustrations practical and economical
to produce and reproduce; and foster the phenomenal growth of advertising,
periodical, book and commercial printing. The development of photomechanics
closely paralleled the advances of photography. In 1826 Joseph Niepce made
the first metal engraving by light using a metal plate coated with bitumen
and etched after exposure and development. Photoengraving developed rapidly
in America and by 1871 it was commercially used for letterpress printing. By
1880 photoengraved prints had replaced woodcuts as illustrations in books and
magazines. In that year, Stephen Horgan made the first halftone
photoengraving for printing. It utilized a coarse screen and was printed by
lithography in The Daily Graphic of New York, the first picture
newspaper. If Gutenberg stepped into a 1950’s printing plant he would have
stood at the typecast, set the type by hand and pulled a proof almost exactly
as he did when first invented it. Today Gutenberg may recognize the output
now, but the input would be strange to him. The age of electronics and computers has completely
changed the complexity of the printing processes. In the years since 1950
presses have speeded up, but have been replaced by photo and computer
typesetting; photography is controlled by densitometers, exposure computers
and automatic processors; color separations and corrections are done on
scanners, and half tone output films are generated by lasers, stripping is
done by CAD techniques, color proofs are made from separation films or from
digital data from computers, computers are used to analyze production
information on presses, and bindery lines operate automatically by computers
for magazine printing. The future of graphic arts is being shaped by the
expansion of the microcomputer and image processing software. Printing is
being used without the use of plates and films by ink jet and electronic
methods. Offset presses are becoming faster in the control of inking and
dampening. Lithography will be the
dominant printing process well in the 21st century. Flexography
with water based inks and gravure with electronic, laser, electron beam and
direct digital engraving will increase in usage. By 2021, these printing
processes will have about one half share of value of printed products.
Publishers and printers recognize their part in the huge information industry
that employs over three fourths of the work force in the United States, and
many are expanding to telecommunications, videotex, interactive cable TV,
direct broadcast by satellite, as supplements to printing. Graphic arts is
sure to change in the years to come more than 540 years since Gutenberg the
printed page and image will continue to flourish into the next century. It
certain that the change will be the way it’s composed and produced, and will
be around for many years for people to read, view, admire and enjoy. Some of the well-known designers such as Neville Brody,
Paul Rand, William Morris and David Carson have changed the world we live
with their approach to graphic communication. Their brilliant innovation in
visual communication have defined the way we look at it. Graphic Design Defined |
|
Back to Publications or Mega Grafx Main page