René Groebli: Irland

 

Collotype/phototype
The illustrations in this work were reproduced by hand collotype and printed on a Voirin collotype press built in 1895 at Arte, Adrien Maeght, Paris, in the summer of 2000. (Text part: offset printing,) A light-sensitive gelatine layer poured onto a glass plate serves as the printing support. Like lithography, the process is based on the mutual repulsion of fat and water. The unexposed areas are kept in a swelling state by water and glycerine, which enables them to repel the ink. The result is a gradation from the lightest shades of gray to the deepest black, as on a photographic paper copy.
The halftones of halftone-free printing can be seen under a magnifying glass as a fine wrinkled grain, which is specific to collotype printing.
Only small, high-quality print runs can be printed on the collotype press. Each sheet is inserted individually by hand and the print result is then assessed.

 

Texts by Gabrielle Alioth, Hansjörg Schertenleib, Sabine Reber. Edited by Erich Alb.