In history, when one aspired to recreate artwork, literature, or any form of printed material, hours of manual recopying took place in order to replicate what there once was. This task was laborious, tedious, and time consuming. The final product was often not accurate, expensive, and of little supply. The need for quicker, more accurate, production of printed material led to the invention of Woodblock Printing. This invention forever changed history with its ability to quickly spread culture through printing.
Woodblock printing dates back to the 600s, however the age of this invention does not take away from how it influenced art, culture, and technology. Woodblock printing was invented long ago in China by the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty dominated from 618 to 906 residing in the greater area of today’s modern day south eastern China. While the Tang Dynasty dominance started in 618, the woodblock printer was invented a few years’ prior around the 600s. After the Tang Dynasty, the Sung Dynasty was born in 960, which reigned until about 1279.
The Sung Dynasty also had a crucial role in the development of the woodblock printing. Woodblock printing had many practical uses during the times of the Tang Dynasty and the Sung Dynasty. Each dynasty used woodblock printing in similar and separate ways. They used the printing similarly in spreading ideas. These ideas were mostly religiously influenced. They would write or artistically demonstrate their religious ideas through printing, which ultimately contributed to westward expansion. The Tang Dynasty specifically used woodblock printing with black and white text.
It was not until the Sung Dynasty that woodblock printing was used more artistically with colors and drawings. The material in which the woodblock printing was used on also differed by dynasty. Early in the history of woodblock printing, the main print material used was clay or silk. This is what the Tang Dynasty used during their reign. However, nearing the end of the Tang Dynasty is when the more conventional paper was invented. The Tang Dynasty utilized this paper shortly, mainly due to their dynasty ending near after paper’s first uses.
Paper was primarily used with woodblock printing with the Sung Dynasty. Woodblock printing was very similar to how stamps are today. There would be a woodblock that would be carved then pressed (stamped) down onto clay, silk, or paper. The first step to woodblock printing is text would be written separately on silk or clay. Once the text was written, the paper or silk would then be glued onto a woodblock, with text facing up. With the paper on the woodblock, the letters would then be carved into the wood. After the carving was done, the woodblock printer is now ready to be used.
The user would cover the face of the woodblock printer with ink to use. The first uses of woodblock printing, as stated earlier, was for religious purposes. However, there were specific ways in which woodblock printing was used to express religious ideals. The Tang and Sung Dynasties would write their religious ideals in books. The woodblock printer lead to the first commercially sold books in history, primarily in the Tang Dynasty’s capitol. At the beginning of the Sung Dynasty in 971, the collection of essential Buddhist scriptures, the Tripitaka, was printed by the monk Zhang Tuxin who used woodblocks.
The Sung Dynasty brought on an innovation in woodblock printing at the turn of the 11th century that allowed the printing process to become portable. In turn, this not only spread Buddhism, but it also spread printing throughout China and the rest of the Far Eastern world. As printing began to spread, different printing techniques began to arise including moveable-type printing. The comparison of woodblock printing versus movable-type printing is very important to bring up to enhance one’s understand of both printing techniques.
To begin, woodblock printing is considered atomistic compared to movable-type’s more organic feel. Atomistic is defined as something composed of many simple elements. Woodblock printing is described in this way because an individual carver could operate independently in the same way it would take an entire printing shop to do in a Western setting. In the European influenced world, there was a huge emphasis on the laborers in the printing shop. This difference can be seen as either an advantage or disadvantage depending on one’s viewpoint.
Another difference between the two popular techniques was the flexibility allowed in woodblock printing compared to the stringent layout in movable-type printing. Woodblock had the ability to easily add or take away graphics or intricate designs. Moveable-type printing however very rarely had any type of pictures. With this in mind, one can see how moveable-type printing is better suited for alphabetic scripts and producing huge counts of a certain book while woodblock is suited for making prints of a painting or intricate design.
The final difference to be spoken for between moveable-type printing and woodblock printing is the difference in costs. Woodblock printing has an extremely low level of investment but an extremely high level of skill needed. To create the press one simply needs a block of wood, a knife and some ink, but to create a beautiful print, one needs highly sought after carving skills. On the opposite end of the spectrum in moveable-type printing, while some labor skills are needed, all of the weight rests on the writer.
Since moveable-type printing lacks woodblock’s aesthetic, there was little need for creativity outside of the actual words on the paper. Woodblock printing can be visualized as the first step in the evolution of printing. A technology that was once nothing more than a brush and ink, purely mechanical by one’s own hand, that slowly evolved into something that could be mass produced for millions of people worldwide. The evolution from the brush began with Woodblock printing. Also coming from China, the future dynasty developed the technology to print using movable type.
This allowed the Chinese to leave behind the notion that one mistake could and would ruin and entire block whatever the size. Directly coinciding with western expansion, the next technological advancement in this line of printing is Johannes Gutenberg’s Press. This allowed type to be automatically organized and placed for the first time. This was a landmark step in the history of printing. As this technology continued to develop, is traveled east and west where in time the first steam powered printing press would be found. It was bought by The Times Newspaper in 1814.
Midway through the 19th Century, Letterpress printing was developed. This used metal pieces to be organized and pressed onto the paper or canvas to create a relief of the text or image being used. The use of metal in the pieces made for larger scale production of typefaces as well as longevity in the life of the pieces themselves. At the end of the 19th Century, for the first time multiple colors, images, and text could be printed on the same plane. This was the beginning of color lithography in which a substance is used to keep certain color from adhering to the page or canvas.
The final step to the evolution of printing happens in the present, in the lifetime of many who still live. In the 1980, Xerox, a form of laser printing became a worldwide technology. The art world was heavily impacted by the development of woodblock printing. This new technology led artists to begin to mass produce their works. Prints could be produced cheaply and efficiently, lowering the cost compared to what the original would have been. With the creation of print concepts, the middle class could begin to enjoy art as a luxury that had been originally reserved only for the wealthy.
With a large demographic emergence consumers’ artists began to produce more works propelling the industry forward. Woodblock printing may be seen as crude form of creating prints art today, but that does not discount its effectiveness on the culture. With the birth of a wider audience, artist could now begin to explore different ways of portraying new ideas that might have not been previously accepted. Artists can either portray what has happened in the past, what is going on currently, or possibilities for the future. With the larger platform artists could display new ideas and concepts that shape and mold societies.
Sometimes these ideas and concepts generate a better society and sometimes for the worse. The art world was heavily impacted by the development of woodblock printing. This new technology led to the artists to begin to mass-produce their works. Before the work could be mass-produced the block of wood had been formed into the image. This was done by “[t]he artist’s design is either drawn directly on the block or on a sheet of paper which was glued to its surface. The cutter uses a knife similar to a penknife and carefully cuts away all the wood away from the sides of the lines which the artist has drawn.
After the wood was brought to the desired image/design the artist would season the wood to ensure that the block would not crack or warp. With this block the artist could then begin to produce prints. Prints could be produced cheaply and efficiently lowering the cost of what art used to cost for an original. The main reason for the reduced cost was the reduced the amount of time spent by the artist to produce the work. The artist could carve one block and transfer that image onto potentially thousands of mediums.
With the creation of the concept of prints the middle class could begin to enjoy art a luxury that had been reserved only for the wealthy. With the emergence of a larger demographic of consumers’ artists began to produce more works propelling the industry forward. Woodblock printing may be seen as crude form of creating prints art today but that does not discount its effect on the culture. After the Dark Ages the desire to learn exploded. People began to explore new ideas. The generation of new ideas and the ability to begin to think freely spread across Europe. Artists also began to explore and express this revolution.
With the birth of a wider audience due to prints artist could now begin to explore portraying new ideas that might have not been previously accepted. Art can portray in a culture what has happened in the past, what is going on currently, or possibilities for the future. With the larger platform artists could display new ideas and concepts that shape and mold societies. An idea is one of if not the most powerful force on earth. Ideas have the ability to make people do great things or can drive them to committee acts that are unspeakable. Sometimes these ideas and concepts generate a better society and sometimes for the worse.