Why Is Printmaking Important?

Woodcut, a type of relief print, is the earliest printmaking technique. Woodcut is also the only printmaking technique traditionally used in the Far East. Mang Maning, was a Filipino printmaker. He was one of the pioneers of printmaking in the Philippines and is now known as the "Father of Philippine Printmaking". 3 facts about the invention of printmaking: Printmaking originated in China after paper was invented around A.D. 105. A relief print is any print in which an image is printed from the raised portion of a carved, etched, or cast block. A simple example would be a rubber stamp. Woodcuts are the oldest method of printmaking. The intaglio method of printing involves cutting or incising an image into a metal plate with various tools or acids. Lithography is a method of printmaking based on the chemical repellence of oil and water. It is a process of printing from a smooth plate.A monoprint or monotype refers to any print made in one version and incapable of being exactly duplicated. (The definition of relief print is above.) Stone rubbing predates any form of woodcut. Woodcuts were first developed in China in the 9th Century. European examples date from the 14th Century. Lithography was the first fundamentally new printing technology since the invention of relief printing in the 15th Century. Alois Senefelder invented it in Germany in 1798.