black and white photogravures, highlighting the stark richness of the areas' landscape, emphasizing the fruit orchards of yakima, the many moods of lake chelan, and the rich diversity of the northwest's forests. latest works from san juan islands.

double resist etching, formerly known as photogravure, is a technique for making an etched intaglio plate that will produce a print with a full range of tonal values without the need for halftone screening. this makes it unique in the field of printmaking. original prints made using this technique are much prized by collectors of fine artworks.

originally developed in the 1880's to allow book publishers to print photographic images into their books, it was used extensively until the 1920's when other less demanding and more commercially expedient printing techniques were discovered. the most famous example of historical photogravure print work is to be found in alfred stieglitz's beautiful periodical camerawork, but many other books from that period also contain lovely illustrations printed in gravure.

like many other exquisite printmaking processes, photogravure was eventually relegated to the history books where it languished as a mere curiosity until it found a resurgence in the studios of late 20th century print artists. today such artists as robert rauschenburg, jim dine, robert mapplethorpe, and others have used photogravure to create fine etchings.

new works by ian martin
gallery exhibit june 1 – june 24

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all artwork © of the respective artists.