Silkscreen Prints

A silkscreen, also called a serigraph or screen print, is the process of forcing ink through a screen to a surface underneath, which can be paper or textile, to create an image. The print is created by using a series of tightly stretched mesh screens and a stencil, or by using a chemical to make some areas of the screen nonporous so the ink cannot pass through.

Ink is “squeegeed” through the mesh material, the stencil masking the areas that should not receive the ink. Multiple screens and multiple stencils are used and applied one at a time to the paper or textile surface below the screen to create areas of different color.

Silkscreen prints can be created manually, or by automated machine. The process is referred to as a silkscreen as originally silk was woven to create the porous screen. Modern screens are made from polyester or thin metal material.

Quick Facts

• Artists favor the silkscreen process to produce areas of vibrant, crisp color
• In the 1960s, Andy Warhol is credited with glorifying the commercial aspect of the silkscreening process to fine art by introducing the idea that mass produced images made without the direct hand of the artist involved could be considered fine art
• Warhol incorporated popular images of icons into his art, including those of Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Kennedy