Customer Reviews

Prints: Art and Techniques (Victoria and Albert Museum Catalogues)

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If someone wants a first introduction to fine prints, this is the book to recommend. It is well organized by technical process and well illustrated. As with any specialist topic, detailed discussion of prints and printmaking can turn dry. Lambert has avoided that error, mostly through brevity. She's curator of one of the world's finest collections of prints - I admire her restraint.

Lambert focusses this book on the technical processes of printmaking. The reader comes away with the basic vocabulary of prints, and a good idea of how each technique serves expressive or commercial needs. I hope the reader will take this knowledge to a museum, to see first-hand how each process looks in life. Although this book is very well illustrated, the reader's new knowledge really must be tried on actual prints, since reproduction can not convey the real subtlety of each technique.

I almost wish this showed a few more examples, like a Picasso drypoint showing the split line that can appear, or the delicate texture that a rocker leaves in a mezzotint. Any book can be made longer - on reflection, I favor Lambert's decision to keep it brief and readable.

This book is not about the history of printmaking, except where history places each technique relative to the others and to other arts. I think that decision makes this book ideal for beginners. This gives the reader knowledge that can be put to use immediately, when the reader sees an original print. Once this book stirs the novice reader's interest, it will be up to the reader to seek out more information on specifics. It's a practical approach that I think works well.

I'm already a nut for prints and print process. I didn't need this extra push. It's a lovely book, though, and I can't wait to pass it on to someone just learning to love prints.

Lambert provides excellent brief descriptions of the many printing techniques -- how they work mechanically, where they came from, how they have developed, and the characteristic marks they leave on the paper. Illustrations are well chosen to show off the attributes of the various techniques, with numerous enlargements to provide detail. The technical discussion is generally clear and easy to follow, even if you have never observed the process (electrotyping being the one notable exception). Covers relief processes, intaglio processes, lithography and screenprinting, including modern photomechanical processes relevant to each. Lambert also offers a few observations on the commercial use and development of various techniques, and includes a chapter on paper and a brief, helpful bibliography. A very good overview for newcomers to prints and useful reference for the more experienced.