Mario Avati (France), Kazuhisa Honda (Japan), Katsunori Hamanishi (Japan), Graeme Peebles (Australia), Christopher Stevens (UK) and Joop Vegter (Netherlands), unveil the mystery of the mezzotint
The distinctive printmaking technique of mezzotint was invented in the mid-17th century. German soldier Ludwig von Siegen is usually cited as the first to use it in a crude form although it appears that he used a roulette tool rather than the rocker used in mezzotint proper. Prince Rupert, Count Palatine, a prominent Royalist during the English Civil War, artist and early member of the Royal Society, encountered the technique while he was in exile in Holland. Mezzotinting proved to be important in the 17th and 18th centuries in Holland, Belgium, France and Great Britain. The invention of steel plates for etching and engraving, the French Revolution and the industrial revolution succeeded in making the mezzotint underutilized and almost forgotten.
It was the re-birth of printmaking in post World War II France that brought the mezzotint back to its full glory.
Workshops specializing in printmaking like Stanley William Hayter and his Atelier 17, and L’Atelier Johnny Friedlaender created the need to look at older techniques.
In the exhibition Deep Velvety Black, the Mystery of the Mezzotint, curator Akky van Ogtrop shows that today the mezzotint is used by many printmakers throughout the world... However it is still a relatively rare medium.
17 June – 12 July
8/2 Danks Street, Waterloo