Every substance, natural or artificial, has its own surface. In arts the surface of the artwork can be understood as its material, spatial, visible and also typical representation. In my diploma thesis I was interested in the surface of a particular material and the imitation of its appearance in the etching technique.
In the theoretical part of my diploma thesis I am presenting the artistic field of printmaking with an emphasis on intaglio print. In the next chapter I presented one technique of intaglio printmaking, etching technique, which I also used in my own work. Related to the chosen technique I also presented different art concepts: valer keys, active and passive lines and art space. Due to the interest in imitating the appearance of surfaces, I examined the visual concepts of texture and structure. In the following I also studied the question of shiny and matt, smooth and rough surfaces. Texture also includes the visual concepts of colour and patina, which are also important in imitating the appearance of surfaces. Due to the chosen art technique, I also devoted myself to the issue of the reproducibility of the drawing, because reproducibility is a concept that is almost inseparable from printmaking.
In the next section I presented four famous artists who worked in etching technique, namely Francisco Goya, Daniel Hopfer, Giorgio Morandi and Branko Suhy. A brief presentation of the artists and their work in printmaking is followed by an analysis of one art piece by an individual master, where I focused mainly on the processing of small objects that are present in their works.
In the final part I present my own works which I created in the etching technique. Based on the studied literature and using the elements of the line and the light-dark contrast I tried to imitate the appearance of various surfaces in my works. I put emphasis on the imitation of a smooth and shiny surface where I was mainly concerned with the reflection in the material.
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