ART TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Relief
The image is created from ink held on areas not carved away from the matrix, and thus left standing above areas not to be inked. Three types of relief are:

Woodcut:
The relief image is carved from a wooden block.

Wood Engraving:
A detailed form of woodcut used for many 19th-century illustrations.

Linocut:
The relief image is carved from a linoleum surface.


Intaglio
The image is created from a metal plate which holds the ink in areas lowered below the level of the original surface. Three types of intaglio (others include drypoint, aquatint, soft-ground, etc.) are:

Engraving:
Precise grooves are cut into the plate with a sharp tool called a burin; widely used for early reproductive printmaking.

Etching:
Marks are made through an acid-resistant coating on the plate, after which the plate is bitten in a chemical bath to etch the image into the metal.

Mezzotint:
The plate is roughened uniformly with a tool called a rocker, after which the burr in certain areas is burnished (rubbed) down so it will hold less ink.


Planographic
The image on the matrix is flat, generally created by chemical means; most common is:

Lithography:
Marks made on a prepared stone are printed by means of certain inks' varying affinity for oily and watery surfaces (very loosely speaking).

"State" is a key term related to all of these processes. Two prints are of different states if they were made from a matrix which was altered (for example, by etching more lines into it) after the making of the earlier impression and before the making of the later one.

OTHER TERMS THAT ARE OFTEN CONFUSING

MONOTYPE:
This is a method of printing, in which a print is taken from a flat surface, either metal, glass, or plexi-glass, on, which a design has been freshly painted. A sheet of paper is pressed down over the still wet plate and transferred. It is usually only possible to take one print using this process, hence the term monotype.

MONOPRINT:
However a MONOPRINT is made in a similar fashion except the flat surface contains some form of matrix by means of etching, dry point, woodcut, etc. The surface is painted differently each time without the constraint of an edition where all prints are pulled to look relatively similar. Each print pulled here is similar in content but each unique in color therefore the term monoprints
The creation of a sculpture out of wood. The practice of wood carving is known to go back at least 5000 years, and is probably much older. Wood does not appear to have been a favoured medium in ancient Greece and Rome, although early Greek bronzes were cast from wood. In the middle ages wood was widely used, the surface generally painted, with gilding of silver and gold. From the Renaissance on most of the greatest sculptors preferred stone.

WOODCARVING:
Woodcarving is different from a woodcut and has undergone a revival in the 20th century in the hands of such artists as Henry Moore. Because of the nature in which it is carved it is unable to be printed. A great array of tools is at the disposal of the artist, including knives, chisels gouges, adzes, and rasps. Many sculptors prefer to exploit the natural inherent shape and grain of the wood, rather than to impose an alien form upon it.