Thaumalea Amherstiae

Joseph Wolf was the most prominent ornithological artist to contribute illustrations to John Gould’s bird books. While growing up on a farm in Germany, Wolf roamed the countryside and developed a strong interest in observing and sketching the wildlife. In 1836 his father reluctantly permitted him to become an apprentice at a lithographic firm in nearby Coblenz (Jackson 1975, 63). After spending three years there improving his drawing skills and learning how to copy drawings onto the limestone blocks used for lithographic printing, Wolf returned to the family farm, but only for a year. Scientific contacts led him first to Darmstadt and then to Leiden in the Netherlands, where he progressed from illustrating ornithological books to become a painter of birds and animals. He improved his artistic skills still more by attending art school. He developed the idea of depicting birds in motion, such as the dramatic scene of a Capercaillie escaping a fox that he drew for the publisher, Kern, in 1846 (Jackson 1975, 64). When revolution disrupted life on the European continent in 1848, Wolf took up the invitation of David William Mitchell, secretary of the Zoological Society of London, and assisted Mitchell in illustrating George Robert Gray’s book, Genera of Birds (1844-1849). In 1849 Wolf also began to provide John Gould with illustrations for The Birds of Great Britain (1862-1873), his approach being especially suitable for birds of prey (Jackson 1975, 67). For example, he shows the Hooded Crow stealing an egg from a nest (Figs. 2 and 3). Rather than commit to working full-time for Gould, Wolf retained his independence as a free-lance artist. Wolf’s biographer, Samuel Palmer, recounted that Gould enticed Wolf to visit and make charcoal drawings of birds for him by setting out Wolf’s favorite cigars and drawing materials. Whether that story is true or not, it is also recorded that Wolf objected to the overly bright tints chosen by Gould for coloring the lithographic prints (Jackson 1975, 67). The drawings made by Wolf for The Birds of Asia (1850-1883) were his last for Gould Gould’s text about Bulwer’s Pheasant thanks the British Museum for loaning him the unique type specimen, “which has enabled me to prepare the accompanying Plate from the talented pencil of Mr. Wolf’ (Figs. 4 and 5). Wolf’s drawings were rendered on stone by Henry Constantine Richter, another Gould artist who had earlier worked on illustrations for Gray’s Genera of Birds. It must have been an oversight that Wolf’who had drawn the Painted Spurfowl for Gould, was not credited on the published plate. Source: Website of University of Kansas Libraries: Gould History and Background

Decorating with fine art prints — whether they’re figurative prints, abstract prints or another variety — has always been a practical way of bringing a space to life as well as bringing works by an artist you love into your home.

Pursued in the 1960s and ’70s, largely by Pop artists drawn to its associations with mass production, advertising, packaging and seriality, as well as those challenging the primacy of the Abstract Expressionist brushstroke, printmaking was embraced in the 1980s by painters and conceptual artists ranging from David Salle and Elizabeth Murray to Adrian Piper and Sherrie Levine.

Printmaking is the transfer of an image from one surface to another. An artist takes a material like stone, metal, wood or wax, carves, incises, draws or otherwise marks it with an image, inks or paints it and then transfers the image to a piece of paper or other material.

Fine art prints are frequently confused with their more commercial counterparts. After all, our closest connection to the printed image is through mass-produced newspapers, magazines and books, and many people don’t realize that even though prints are editions, they start with an original image created by an artist with the intent of reproducing it in a small batch. Fine art prints are created in strictly limited editions — 20 or 30 or maybe 50 — and are always based on an image created specifically to be made into an edition.

Many people think of revered Dutch artist Rembrandt as a painter but may not know that he was a printmaker as well. His prints have been preserved in time along with the work of other celebrated printmakers such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Andy Warhol. These fine art prints are still highly sought after by collectors.

“It’s another tool in the artist’s toolbox, just like painting or sculpture or anything else that an artist uses in the service of mark making or expressing him- or herself,” says International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) vice president Betsy Senior, of New York’s Betsy Senior Fine Art, Inc.

Because artist’s editions tend to be more affordable and available than his or her unique works, they’re more accessible and can be a great opportunity to bring a variety of colors, textures and shapes into a space.

For tight corners, select small fine art prints as opposed to the oversized bold piece you’ll hang as a focal point in the dining area. But be careful not to choose something that is too big for your space. And feel free to lean into it if need be — not every work needs picture-hanging hooks. Leaning a larger fine art print against the wall behind a bookcase can add a stylish installation-type dynamic to your living room. (Read more about how to arrange wall art here.)

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