SGIA Journal September/October 2013 - (Page 73)

Brant & Garner studio, Market Street, San Francisco, 1913. This is the earliest photographic record of the screen process. From left: Joseph A. Garner, Frank O. Brant. The Innovation of an Art Form: A History of Screen Printing Introduction A new book by Swiss author Guido Lengwiler arrives this fall, and SGIA is excited to share some excerpts with readers. Entitled ‘A History of Screen Printing — How an Art Evolved into an Industry’, the book chronicles the rapid advancements in the ancient art of stenciling that took place during the late 1800s, and how it turned into screen printing as we know it today. With help from the families of the pioneers, industry supporters and over 15 years of research, Lengwiler has rescued an almost lost history that covers the period up to and including WWII. It tells the interconnected stories of how a relatively small group of people, many of them artists, signwriters and entrepreneurs working in the dawn of the advertising age in the US, helped create entire industries that continue to exist globally today, all using screen printing in the production of an unbelievably wide range of products. It includes beautiful full color illustrations from the Selectasine Booklet provided to original patent licensees, and the main vehicle that spread the process around the world. Hundreds of never-before-seen product photos, machine designs and some of the first art prints done in the 1920s in California are included, plus special chapters on fine art printmaking, along with the ceramic and textile industries. Screen printing was a hybrid process that provided both graphic and manufacturing advantages over other methods, and was perfect for the times. Industry, especially in the US, was transitioning from hand craft into mass production, creating a need to decorate products, or advertise them with signage. Most times a closely guarded industrial secret, screen printing bridged gaps between hand production and the more expensive automated printing of the time, which included lithography and letterpress. It introduced cheap short-run color capabilities, and virtually created the whole point-of-purchase (POP) and specialty advertising industries, along with the billboard and T-shirt printing sectors. An ability to print directly on a wide variety of materials led to the decoration of metal, ceramics, textiles and plastics, spurring record growth, better designs, and lowered costs in any industry that adopted it, from fashion to fine china. Experiments prior to WWII led to printed circuits, which in turn revolutionized the electronics industries. All of these, and more, are legacies of the pioneers of screen printing featured in the book. The history of the process is really the history of so many things we take for granted in today’s — and tomorrow’s — society. “Guido Lengwiler has written the first truly comprehensive and deeply researched history of screen printing, beginning with late 19th-century precursors and extending through the years of World War II,” commented Richard S. Field, Curator Emeritus of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Yale University Art Gallery. “Anyone who but skims Guido Lengwiler, Author, A History of Screen Printing — How an Art Evolved into an Industry; Introduction by Andy MacDougall Visit SGIA at SGIA.org SGIA Journal ■ September/October 2013 | 73 http://www.SGIA.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SGIA Journal September/October 2013

How to Sell in a Tough Economy
How One Fine-Art Photographer Created a Four-Story-Tall Print
December 1, 2013 Training Deadline Approaches
Affordable Care Act — What is New and What is Happening
Reducing Inkjet Ink Usage
Want Your Graphics to Look Great and Last? Start with Surface Preparation and Cleaning
2013 Market Trends & Product Specialties Report
Digital Ceramic Printing Continues to Cast a New Business Model for Output Providers
How to Hire and Retain a Sales Champion
Going Grand: Does It Make Sense for Your Business?
Flames Made Easy with Knifeless Tape
The Edge is Near: Innovations in Fabric Finishing
SGIA Expo Sponsors Lead the Industry Charge to Orlando
The Innovation of an Art Form: A History of Screen Printing
In Many Specialty Graphics Shops, Old and New Technologies Sit Side by Side
SGIA Helps Making Shipping Easier with YRC
New Products
Specialty Imaging Shines at the 2013 SGIA Expo

SGIA Journal September/October 2013