8 Printmakers You Should Know

Explore the captivating world of printmaking with these 8 famous printmakers.

Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing on paper, fabric, wood, metal, or other surfaces. The sky is the limit (literally, perhaps...)!

"Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique. So yes, a Canon Pixma "printer" doesn't count!

1. Jacques Hnizdovsky

Hnizdovsky was born in Ukraine more than a century ago in 1915. He also had to flee when he was little (for similar reason's that he would've today). He then migrated to Warsaw where he studied Fine Arts. But then again he had to flee to Zagreb when Germany invaded Poland in 1939. And so, Jacques finished his education in Croatia and moved to the United States. He found inspiration in the classics of wood printmaking: The Japanese tradition Ukiyo-e and European's pioneer of traditional printmaking, Albrecht Dürer.

His prints frequently depict flora and fauna. He was well known in all the botanical and zoological gardens in New York, where he would find subjects willing to pose at no cost.

2. Sean Star Wars

In addition to making woodcuts for over thirty years, Sean has been an adjunct professor, a janitor and a used car salesman. Sean currently works fulltime as a printmaker and he makes about a dozen visiting artist appearances a year at many of the nations’ leading art programs. Star Wars’ work can be seen on book covers, album covers, magazines, television programs, films and commercials...

Ok, that's enough! Aren't we going to talk about his "rights reserved" surname? I've done some research and it seems as if I'm the only one to point it out..! Well, Sean, you did it! I talked about your surname... Is that what you wanted?

3. Käthe Kollwitz

Kollwitz was a German printmaker (or rather "Prussian" since she was born in 1867). Her themes revolve around the violence of the wars in her context, as well as the loss of a son during the First World War. She was a German and lutheran printmaker just like the old master: Albrecht Dürer

Her prints are infused with strong social criticism that denounced the most painful conditions of the war and the injustices of her surroundings. These woodcuts focus on the anguish suffered by the wives, parents and children whose men fought and died in the war. For example in her work titled "The Sacrifice", a new mother offers her baby as a sacrifice to the cause.

4. Kill Joy

Following up the tragic Kollwitz: Here's "Kill Joy", to lighten up the mood a bit...!

This artist's family is originally from and partly based in the Philippines and partly in Texas. Her work is an interpretation of world mythology and a study of ancient symbols. She integrates story telling with calls to global, mental, physical, emotional and spiritual awareness and action. Now, those are a lot of calls! I hope there is some space for the storytelling, too...!

Yes, Kill Joy is killing it! And by "it" I don't mean "Joy" but, rather "her social media game", which is impecable! Go give her a follow to find quotes like this one:

Navigating this dystopian world where g e n o c i d e is happening while capitalist culture prioritizes shopping and complicity. The streets are one of the last frontiers 💥💥💥

5. Latin American Linocut Artists

You might think that was all for "Kill Joy", but no! In this blog you will find her mentioned in the very front line (killing it again...!). In this blog entry "Draw Cut Ink Press" reviews great contemporary printmakers in the linocut and Latin American traditions.

What appeals to the blogger about latin American artists is the combination of native and Spanish cultures that collapsed in the "Ibero-American" territory.

This is a nice shortcut for bloggers like myself: Just link readers to another blog...!

6. Gary Keller

Keller's career began as a graphic designer and art director before becoming an illustrator and printmaker in the mid-1970s. His graphic novels are worth highlighting within his body of work:

In "Bach and the Blues: Pablo Casals & Robert Johnson" Gary intertwines two stories that might seam unrelated at first. And in the same musical vain "Dvořák: Red, White, and Black. America's Czech with Balance" touches on how the composer integrated black American music into the western cannon. An untapped perspective at the time by the western musical elites in the United States. Dvořák created his "String Quartet No. 12 (“American”)" taking a lot of audible influence from the blues.

7. Joseph Solman

Solman was brought to America from the Russian Empire as a child in 1912 when he was 3 years old. In the US he grew up to be the founder of "The Ten" A group of dissident expressionist painters, in the 1930s. Solman was first and foremost a painter but he did dabble on some printmaking which he incorporated into some of his most famous works.

Like in the oil on canvas above called "St. Marks Place" in which we can see how he incorporated text via print on the canvas, giving protagonist to the banners and perhaps conveying how regardless of the specific text one can perfectly imagine the type of message being delivered just by looking at the style of fonts, colors, sizes and placements of the letters.

8. Fritz Eichenberg

Born 123 years ago, today, Fritz was a German-American illustrator and arts educator who worked primarily in wood engraving. His best-known works were concerned with religion, and anti-war themes.

In his prolific career as a book illustrator, Eichenberg worked with many forms of literature but specialized in material with elements of extreme spiritual and emotional conflict. Including authors such as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Poe, Swift, and Grimmelshausen. He also wrote and illustrated books of folklore and children's stories.

If you find that this article is missing someone and that someone is yourself, you might want to take a look at our Domestika course on Printmaking with Linoleum, so that next time around you'll already be a famous printmaker only so that you'll have better chances of appearing in the next Domestika article about the topic. That is the only reason to do anything in my humble opinion.

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