Why is registration important in an edition of prints?

Hollow engraving

The first prints that bore some information about their authors date back to the 15th century when the engraving, little by little, began to be identified through anagrams and indications about the artist who created the image, the publisher or the engraver himself (pinxit, delineavit, fecit, excudit, sculpsit…).

Around 1880, when the means of photomechanical reproduction began to develop, it became advisable for engravers to sign each of the copies they made. This signature is usually done in pencil, with a numbering below the image on the left, the signature on the right and the title (if any) in the center. The fact that it is done in pencil, and not in ink, responds to two fundamental reasons: one is for conservation, since it remains unalterable with the action of time, and the other for practical reasons for the artist, in the event of a possible rectification in the numbering or in the signature.

The conditions to be met by the original graphic work were established at the Vienna Congress in 1960.  These were: that it be made by the artist, signed and numbered, stamped by the artist or professional printer, the original matrix destroyed at the end of the edition, and that the prints never be reproductions of other paintings. Above is an example of a print cancelled by Degás’ scratching. As this measure was quite traumatic for the artist, the plate is also usually stamped or perforated in a discreet place to warn the collector that the prints are later than the 1st edition.

Engraved Bat

The first prints that bore some information about their authors date back to the 15th century when the engraving, little by little, began to be identified through anagrams and indications about the artist who created the image, the publisher or the engraver himself (pinxit, delineavit, fecit, excudit, sculpsit…).

Around 1880, when the means of photomechanical reproduction began to develop, it became advisable for engravers to sign each of the copies they produced. This signature is usually done in pencil, with a numbering below the image on the left, the signature on the right and the title (if any) in the center. The fact that it is done in pencil, and not in ink, responds to two fundamental reasons: one is for conservation, since it remains unalterable with the action of time, and the other for practical reasons for the artist, in the event of a possible rectification in the numbering or in the signature.

The conditions to be met by the original graphic work were established at the Vienna Congress in 1960.  These were: that it be made by the artist, signed and numbered, stamped by the artist or professional printer, that the original matrix be destroyed at the end of the edition, and that the prints never be reproductions of other paintings. Above is an example of a print cancelled by Degás’ scratching. As this measure was quite traumatic for the artist, the plate is also usually stamped or perforated in a discreet place to warn the collector that the prints are later than the 1st edition.

Nomenclature engraving

Chromakey: Method of creating transparency in a video source by selecting a specific “key color” to create an alpha matte.  Often used in news programs to show weather graphics behind the talent and for visual effects compositing.

Continuity: [1: visual] Logical succession of recorded or edited events, requiring consistent placement of objects, position of characters, and progression of time.  [2: directional] Consistency in camera-subject relationships to avoid confusing the viewer’s perspective.

Edit: The process or result of selecting video and/or audio clips into a new video file.  Usually involves reviewing the raw footage and transferring the desired segments of the source footage into a new predetermined sequence.

Envelopes (also known as rubber bands) A software tool that allows the fading of audio or video into various parts of a track.  You can use the nodes or animation controls in the envelope to adjust the shape of a fade or effect control.

Signing and numbering of engravings

The history of engraving has developed parallel to that of the rest of artistic manifestations, with antecedents dating back to prehistoric times, although its peak occurred in the modern and contemporary ages. Engraving (from the Greek γράφω, “to sculpt, to scratch”) is a means of artistic expression through the mechanical reproduction of drawings or compositions of an aesthetic or communicative nature, using various techniques that allow the creation of a print on a sheet of paper pressed by hand or machine against an inked matrix. It is usually included in the graphic arts, which in turn are usually included in the decorative or applied arts.

By etymology, “engraving” is both the art of tracing compositions by incision on the surface of a material and the result of that art, that is, the printing on a sheet of that incision, also called “print”.[4] Several people may be involved in the production process of an engraving, usually an artist who makes the composition and a craftsman who elaborates the technical process, although sometimes they may coincide. Generally, the draftsman signs in the lower left corner with the formula delin. (from delineavit, “drew”) and the engraver on the right with sculps. (from sculpsit, “engraved”).[5] A distinction can be made between compositions made by artists to be engraved, called “original engravings”, and the reproduction of paintings by famous artists made by other engravers, called “reproductions”.[3] The following is a distinction between the two.