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• "Impressions in Ink" leaves a mark at KAM

Often when we think of ink, we think of pens; however, the aptly titled summer exhibition “Impressions in Ink” at the Krannert Art Museum showcases images created by some of the earliest printmaking techniques of woodcutting and engraving. “Impressions in Ink” displays a unique variety of early modern etchings, engravings, and woodcuts with subjects ranging from allegorical and religious themes to portraiture and botanical illustrations.

“Impressions in Ink” displays the works of such prominent artists of the early modern era as Albrecht Durer, Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn and Lucas Cranach the Elder. By applying Gutenberg’s technique to the reproduction of images, early modern artists had an unprecedented opportunity to distribute more widely than ever before. Prints by artists might be used as illustrations in books, or even sold as souvenirs to pilgrims traveling to holy sites. Often a collaborative process, woodcuts involved pressing paper against a raised, inked model of the image. Engravings involved lines being cut into the metal plates, and paper was pressed to absorb the ink that filled the sunken spaces.

In light of the tediousness of such a process, “Impressions in Ink” showcases through impressively intricate detailing the extraordinary workmanship of early modern artists. Especially distinctive to early printed images was the thickness or thinness (and spacing) of parallel lines to create different effects of shading, an effect with which we are visually familiar everyday if we chance upon the sight of dollar bills. Although the development of this technique probably resulted more from the practicality of a single color ink rather than purely aesthetic considerations, there’s something extraordinarily appealing about the visual effect of shading through such precise linework.

Many of the allegorical works on display also provide a unique opportunity for observers to bring together various details to unwrap the enigmatic riddle subtly suggested through the image’s title. In the 17th century etching “Melancolia” by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, the primary figure sits surrounded by crumbling ruins. A variety of animals crowd in the left foreground, including an owl resting on a pillar almost hidden by dark, dense foliage. “Melancolia,” an etching, appears slightly more grainy than the 1559 engraving “Prudentia,” by the Flemish artist Philip Galle after Pieter Bruegel I. Standing a few feet away, one barely perceives the tiny black lines that make up the extremely smooth shading of this image. The street scene evidences the virtuous prudence of the townspeople as women cut up a carcass of an animal, all of its parts being used, from the meat they cut to the raw hide hanging in a nearby window.

Other images are not quite so obvious in meaning, however; the 1616 Dutch engraving “The Allegory of Sight” by artist Henrick Goltzius and engraver Jan Saenredam presents a uniquely ambiguous and self-reflexive image which portrays a figure of sight looking in a mirror while being painted by an artist in the background; all the while, a putti (or cherub-like) figure, with a telescope at his feet, holds the mirror up to Sight and stares directly and mysteriously at the viewer of the image.