Revolutionary Tool and Artistic Medium: the Print in Europe from the 15th Century to the Present Day
On campus
Dr Bryony Bartlett-Rawlings
Tuesday 10 – Friday 13 September 2024
£495
Course description
Drawing on The Courtauld’s exceptional print collection, this course explores the key techniques, the varied functions, the main protagonists, and the reception of European printmaking within a wider art-historical context.
Since its invention, printmaking has played a fundamental role in cultural exchange, spreading stylistic innovations and new subject-matters far and wide between artists, regions, and countries. A Europe-wide phenomenon such as the ‘Renaissance’ is unthinkable without the mediating function of the print. Printmaking reproduced the work and disseminated the ideas and reputations of painters, architects, and sculptors, and we shall examine the collaborations between Raphael and Marcantonio Raimondi, Peter Paul Rubens and Christoffel Jeghers, and John Constable and David Lucas, among others. Moreover, the print soon became a means of artistic expression in its own right and we shall spend time looking at ‘original’ prints by artists like Rembrandt, Goya and Van Gogh. The commerce of printmaking is also part of our investigation, with a close look at the activities of publishers like Antonio Lafreri, Philips Galle, and Claes Jansz Visscher.
Class-room sessions will be complemented by visits to The Courtauld’s Print Room, where we shall examine how prints were made and discover the aesthetic qualities of different techniques in prints by a range of artists from Parmigianino, Rembrandt, and Canaletto, to Gauguin and Picasso, Chris Ofili and Grayson Perry.
Lecturer's biography
Dr Bryony Bartlett-Rawlings gained her MA and PhD at The Courtauld, where she specialised in early print culture. She has worked as Assistant Curator of Paintings and Drawings and Assistant Curator of Engraved Ornament at the V&A and Print Room Assistant at The Courtauld. Bryony is currently the Image Researcher for the revised edition of Taste and the Antique. She has lectured at the V&A, The Courtauld, and at the University of Buckingham, and published extensively on the graphic arts. Her co-edited volume of essays Placing Prints is forthcoming in 2024.