aquatint
/ˈakwətɪnt
/noun
1A print resembling a watercolour, made by etching a copper plate with nitric acid and using resin and varnish to produce areas of tonal shading: twelve coloured aquatints of British battle scenes...
- A recent exhibit of his work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art featured his carborundum prints, his etchings, lithographs, aquatints and watercolors.
- These would include nine drawings, 11 lithographs, seven etchings, four aquatints, two linocuts, two round dish prints and a set of eight ceramic plates.
- He created lithographs, etchings, drypoints, lino cuts, woodcuts and aquatints.
1.1 [mass noun] The technique or process of producing aquatints: a directness and freshness in the use of aquatint [as modifier]: aquatint plates of the Lake District...
- Similar to mezzotint, aquatint is a technique to produce prints with the effect of printing rather whole areas than just lines.
- The intaglio printmaking techniques are engraving, drypoint, etching, aquatint, stipple, mezzotint and are discussed in part two of this article.
- To start with; the first tones to the plate are given with line etching, drypoint, aquatint, softground, photocopy transfer or roulette.
verb [with object]
Produce (a print) using the aquatint technique or process: she studied methods of etching and aquatinting...
- In several prints, texts are etched across aquatinted backgrounds in which ghostly, half-remembered realities float.
- In this etching, line is blended with aquatinted areas in subtle blacks and grays.
- She plays with the medium, placing a cutout aquatinted image in sepia of herself unravelling lino engraved lines of an Eastern Cape landscape.
Origin
Late 18th century: from French aquatinte, from Italian acqua tinta 'coloured water'.