Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking process that translates a photographic image onto a metal plate, allowing it to be printed with the rich, continuous tone of an etching. It combines photographic precision with the warmth and depth of traditional intaglio, producing prints of exceptional tonal subtlety.
Developed in the nineteenth century, photogravure was historically the finest method of reproducing photographs in print, and it remains prized by artists and photographers for its beauty and permanence.
A photographic image is transferred onto a copper plate coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue. After exposure, the gelatin hardens in proportion to the amount of light it received. The plate is then etched, with the acid biting to varying depths according to the hardened gelatin — deeper where the image is darker, shallower where it is lighter.
The result is a plate that holds ink in a continuous range of depths, capturing the full tonal scale of the original photograph. The plate is inked, wiped and printed like any other intaglio plate, transferring a soft, tonally rich image to paper.
Unlike commercial photographic printing, which breaks an image into a pattern of dots, photogravure renders true continuous tone. This gives photogravure prints an unusually rich, velvety quality, with deep blacks and delicate, subtle gradations that few other processes can match.
Photogravure also produces prints of great permanence, made with stable pigment inks on fine paper. Many of the most admired photographic prints of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were photogravures.
Photogravure is a labour-intensive, hand-printed process, and editions are usually small and signed. As an intaglio print, a photogravure typically shows a plate mark around the image. Look for the rich continuous tone and the absence of any visible dot pattern.
At Byard Art, where photogravure works are available, each is fully documented as an original hand-pulled intaglio print.
