Early nineteenth-century European textile printers were confronted by
increasingly copious amounts of raw fabric intended for women’s garments. To
maximize profits when decorating apparently infinite lengths of blank “canvas,” printers
embraced mechanized copper rollers alongside traditional block-printing techniques.
Some designers aimed to disguise the new economizing technology. Others highlighted
the rollers’ mechanical qualities by applying to them engine-turned, lathe-generated
designs. These designs, known as “eccentrics,” record a process resulting in abstract and
endlessly variable motifs. Previously utilized for generating decorative metalwork and
counterfeit-proof documents such as banknotes, lathe engraving’s precise permutations of
optically-playful line work signified visually the durable nature of precious materials and
the value inscribed on paper currency. These qualities map awkwardly, however, onto
mass-produced fashionable dress fabrics. The moiréd appearance resulting from eccentric
engraving further cast the fabrics as mere counterfeits imitating expensive silks.
This paper suggests that eccentric textile designs exhibit a mercurial textility
indicative of contentious commercial and social issues that came to the fore as the
industrial revolution progressed. Moreover, the lathe-engraved designs embody visually
the opposition of individual choice and group identification at the heart of fashion. The
patterns of curving parallel lines recall the most quintessential marker of singularity in
humans – the fingerprint. Yet the intricacy and accuracy of the designs betray limitless
multiplicity. Ultimately, the paper asks, did the mercurial fingerprint of the machine
impart a textility capable of opening new fields of visual, as well as social, possibilities?

Teaching woodblock printmaking to today’s university students is both challenging . . . and surprisingly easy. On the one hand, the student is already immersed in the digital word of handheld devices. On the other hand, students also desire a physical connection and means of expression using other handheld devices, namely barens and chisels.

The secret in our success is to integrate the following strategies within the curriculum: (1) I connect students’ keen interest in Japanese culture and traditions; (2) I train students to use software (primarily Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator); (3) I require students to concentrate on manual dexterity and craftsmanship through carving exercises building on simple skills; and (4) I expect students to print their own color charts which allows for a direct understanding of the printing process.

I will supply the conference participants with lesson plans, examples of student projects, test blocks, and digital process strategies for teaching traditional Japanese style woodblock printmaking within a long-term context

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664) explored the story of Circe with Ulysses’ companions turned into animals in a group of paintings and a print that showcase both his virtuoso style and his penchant for unusual iconographic solutions. Castiglione’s fascination with Circe’s transformative power does not simply reflect contemporary trends, but it relates to the artist’s engagement with the depiction of myths of metamorphosis, which he would have encountered via various illustrated Italian editions of Ovid’s book and other works of art.
This paper will analyse Castiglione’s treatments of Circe with the animals in light of contemporary intellectual debates regarding the dialogue between human consciousness and animal behaviour, as encountered, in particular, in the writings of Agostino Mascardi and his Roman circle. Building on these insights, I will suggest a reading of Castiglione’s sorceress as a sophisticated metaphor for the Court, inspirer of those vain ambitions that lead to animal baseness.

‘Nec sepulcra legens vereor ne perdam memoriam.’ So reads the inscription added to Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione’s etching Temporalis Aeternitas, dated 1645. The Latin phrase, engraved on the plate probably under the initiative of its publisher, Giovanni Domenico De Rossi, is clearly addressed to the beholder. This learned quote, traceable to a classical source, actively engages with the imagery of Castiglione’s inventive composition while also inviting further speculation on the themes evoked; namely, the uncertainty about the nature of time and man’s relationship to time, eternity and memory.
In the print, four men and a young boy are shown in a ruined cemetery, gathered by a tomb inscribed TEMPORALIS AETERNITAS 1645. The scene, taking place in a nocturnal setting, is pervaded by a solemn mood. Both its iconography and its visual qualities imbue Temporalis Aeternitas with a sense of mystery. The Genoese artist’s penchant for technical virtuosity is combined with strategies aimed at captivating the beholder. Consequently, the viewer’s experience of looking at the print seems to parallel the very act of deciphering the carved inscription, being performed by the protagonists of the scene.
Departing from previous interpretations, which have focused on the issues of transience and time’s destructive power, I will argue that the work’s core theme is that of memory – connected to man’s place within the course of time – specifically within the framework of Counter Reformation Italy. Castiglione’s invention can be convincingly connected to the erudite interest generated by Antonio Bosio’s survey of the early Christian catacombs, Roma Sotterranea, as well as to specific Jesuit texts. This lecture will thus offer an interdisciplinary investigation of Castiglione’s print, and of a closely connected body of work, and contribute to our understanding of early modern conceptions and experiences of time as reflected in artistic artifacts.

Raphael’s oeuvre defined French classical aesthetics and particularly his painting “St. Michael Vanquishing Satan” (1518) stood as a paradigm for academic doctrine. Charles LeBrun focused his first lecture for the Académie Royale in 1667 on the painting, and in 1806, the art historian Eméric-David published a new analysis alongside Alexandre Tardieu’s reproductive print in the luxurious print album Le Musée Napoléon. While following along the line of Lebrun’s definition of classical aesthetics, the 19th century interpretations argued for a new reading of Raphael within the French cannon. As art’s purpose under Napoleon was to project France’s hegemony, Raphael’s “St. Michael” referred to her permanence in military power and European presence. The painting that had long been considered a symbol of stately power, at the time of the Napoleon, allowed the scholar and engraver to align political interests of the state with a discourse on Raphael’s aesthetic position in contemporary art.

Over recent decades scholarly investigations of the practice of print makers, printers, and dealers have revealed the far-reaching scope of the print market in terms of the breadth of imagery that was produced, sold and reviewed by critics. The broad influence of the printed image was unchallenged during the 18th century, not at least because the numerous copies produced in typical editions encouraged widespread distribution. Moreover, their manageable size and weight made it easy to send prints to far-away destinations where images could radically alter their meanings in the new cultural context.

The focus of this investigation is on the print maker, publisher and dealer Johann Georg Wille, a successful artist in Paris, whose work was represented in Europe’s major art cabinets at the time. He was in personal contact to Europe’s artistic and intellectual elite and he supported friendly, collegial relationship with the cultural circles in the city of Mannheim, a thriving cultural center in southern Germany. Wille’s prints feature prominently in the city’s premier collections--his images were collected by the elector Carl Theodor as well as by high-ranking officials; Wille’s images are featured among the holdings of the main art dealers in town, who supplied a local as well as international European clientele. Wille’s engravings enjoyed a strong presence and admiration in Mannheim.

Wille fostered personal connections to artists and collectors in the city. The landscape painter Ferdinand Kobell and court engravers Egidius Verhelst and Heinrich Christoph Sintzenich among others had traveled to and trained at Wille’s Parisian atelier, exchanged with him works of art and discussed matters of aesthetics and trade. Wille’s work bridged in formidable manner the high technical expectations for eighteenth-century fine engraving on the one hand, with new founded ideas of ‘nature’ and nationalism on the other. His personal experimentation in and support of the northern, German aesthetic helped formulate an enlightened and pre-Romantic conception of a national art. This is of particular interest in the enlightened cultural scene of Mannheim, a city that had become a center for national artistic emancipation in the second half of the century. The print could play a key role in the national endeavor: Its experimental nature and possibility for wide distribution allowed the printed image to be a projector for new aesthetics and political ideas. In such context, Wille’s publications were crucial for the new movement. While his graphic works had become part of the artistic canon and thus his artistic authority was unquestioned, his personal support of local artists and movements validated and expounded their engagement in the national discourse. Moreover Wille’s support of Mannheim’s artists helped establish a modern printmaking school and graphic aesthetic in the region of Palatinate, and projected the regional artistic production onto an international stage. Wille enlisted influential dealers, such as the auctioneer Chariot in Paris, to represent Mannheim’s print makers and distribute their work throughout Europe. The publishing and distribution of images by and through Wille had far reaching consequences: The print maker, printer and publisher launched innovative experimentation toward a national art and identity.