History Of Screen Printing Notes

The earliest known example of a stencil dates back to 35,000 to 40,000 BCE, in the Stone Age (Paleolithic), and consisted of the direct use of human hands to represent symbols on cave walls by blowing pigment onto them. From there evolved the stencil technique, corresponding to the reproduction of a symbol by applying ink through a cutout, which began with cutting out tree leaves and fruit peels combined with natural dyes, progressing to a diversity of materials and methods as the characteristic development of each era and location developed. Much later, this technique derived an essentially simple printing process with a long and complex history, both in art and industry – silk screen printing – which, instead of a cutout template, uses a fabric for the same purpose, based on waterproofing areas, keeping the areas corresponding to the image to be reproduced free, and through which the ink must pass. As an early form of stencil technique with this use of permeographic sense, the origin of silk screen printing is generally credited to China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), whose process involved a complex network of matrices in various materials and supported by human hair. The technique was adopted and significantly improved in Japan, leading to the use of silk instead of human hair.

Despite a long history and familiarity in the East, this printing process, later brought to Europe by merchants, did not gain much traction in the West. Initially, this was due to other established stencil and woodblock printing techniques and, later, to the difficulties involved in obtaining and the cost of silk for screen manufacturing. Thus, the popularity of the process only effectively developed from the late 19th century onwards in Europe, which simultaneously exported the knowledge to the United States, mainly through emigrants from the United Kingdom. A revealing fact about this movement is the registration of several early patents associated with the screen printing process, between 1892 and 1907, both in Europe and the United States, among which Antoine Vericel, Hiram Deeks, Jehan Raymond, and Samuel Simon stand out, with the latter’s patent being generally considered the one that most closely approximated the versatility of what would later become the screen printing technique.

Despite its fundamental origins in Europe, it is in the United States that screen printing undergoes the greatest commercial, industrial, and even artistic progress, establishing the basis of modern screen printing.

Around the turn of the century, felt pennants became the main early screen-printed products and are considered the origin of graphic screen printing. Pennants and flags were a significant part of the popular American souvenir market, and before the advent of screen printing, they were presented without graphic design, only decorated with informative typographic elements cut and sewn by hand, without creative possibilities for illustration. This sector encouraged the application of screen printing in the subsequent printing of displays and advertising posters – which established the fundamental character of modern screen printing. 

In the first half of the 20th century, the boost given by the American automotive industry, starting in 1915, particularly through the printing of spare tire covers, stands out. This is often considered the historical event that gave rise to commercial screen printing. The popularity of pennants and tire covers extended beyond the 20th century, for regular periods, not only in the United States but also in Europe.

Also noteworthy is the formation of the internationally renowned group of seven individuals, gathered in the state of California through common interests and circumstances, between 1911 and 1914 – the brothers John Pilsworth, Henry Pilsworth, and Eugene Pilsworth, along with Charles Peter, Edward Owens, Roy Beck, and Jacob Steinman – creators and developers of the patented Selectasine method, which gave rise to the famous company of the same name, founded by Owens, Beck, and Steinman. This trio is also often cited as the inventor of what is considered the first photoemulsion screen printing (based on chlorides, dichromate, compounds and gelatins reactive to actinic light), although the sensitization process was already practiced by other personalities of the time, such as the famous designer William Gordon and author of what is considered the first article written on screen printing, in 1916, in which he describes a basic stencil process using photosensitive emulsion, without mentioning a source or an inventor.

The Selectasine method corresponded to a printing invention that, in the first patent of 1915/1918, referred to a “delineation method” – basically, consisting of using the same screen printing stencil to print the various direct colors contained in the same image. This innovation was applied by delineating the various matrices directly on the screen, blocking and unblocking them according to the printing order, using different incompatible solvent substances. The first patent referred to generic fabrics and copper or brass fabrics for the silkscreen, but subsequent patents were based on the use of threaded cloth for a qualitative result – a fabric derived from natural silk, but low-cost and readily available, commonly used in sieving activities in the milling industry. The first patent also defined the method as a process superior to any other printing technique, allowing the advantage of oil-based inks, an unparalleled relief finish, and the possibility of printing on any material, further giving rise to a succession of new patents relating to various improvements.

The importance of the Selectasine company was a unique benchmark due to an elaborate licensing system for its patented methods, which allowed its name to reach countries as far away as Australia and New Zealand, as well as England, Germany, and Switzerland (among others), contributing significantly to the development of screen printing globally after the First World War.

However, other companies played an important role in the early days of modern screen printing, such as Velvetone, founded by Frank Otokar Brant in San Francisco, and Vitachrome, founded as the screen printing department of Young & McCallister in Los Angeles, later becoming independent.

The influence of photography, and not only through chemical development processes, brought about a technical and conceptual revolution, replacing stencil methods with cutting and direct painting on the screen, although it took several years for this innovation to be accepted and progressed. Following these difficulties, it is also worth highlighting the invention of the stencil film patented as Nufilm in the 1930s by its creator Joseph Ulano, another immigrant who settled in New York in the 1920s. This innovation solved problems associated with the adhesion of emulsions and the resistance of the screen printing stencil, but it may have been inspired by another patent registered by Louis D’Autremont in 1929, corresponding to a cut-out film fabric for the same effect and called Profilm.

Photography also innovatively influenced the entire process of preparing the printing plate, giving rise to photocomposition, which included the halftone technique and a series of graphic streamlining techniques that preceded the advent of computers.

With the discovery of nylon (polyamide), most screens used in the United States became synthetically manufactured, giving rise to the term print screen (instead of silk screen). However, a series of patents involving silk, registered after 1920, suggests that the popularity of traditional silk screen printing persisted until a good part of the 20th century, especially in Europe, eventually becoming a generic and timeless term. The superior quality silk screen even generated a tradition of home weaving, mainly from Switzerland, which continued until 1978.

Another relevant fact in the eventful history of screen printing is the advent of the Second World War (much more so than the First), responsible for a new and significant large-scale boost in the use of this printing system, through the decoration of fuselages, a series of training markings, dials, panels and medical utensils; printing of signs, decals, maps, packaging, propaganda and a variety of military functions, which also included a new specific screen printing area – printed circuits (PCBs). Initially developed by the American Government for military equipment during the war, this electrical conductivity printing was later adapted to economic activities in the manufacture of electronic products intended for the most varied functions of commercial and industrial sectors, not only in the United States but throughout Europe. In this way, the Second World War also influenced the decline of the original character of modern screen printing, paving the way for a new era of industrial screen printing, of a functional nature.

In 1940, the American National Serigraph Society was founded, which decided, for the first time, to use the term serigraphy to establish the difference between artistic application and commercial or industrial application (print screen). The term came from the Latin sericum (silk) and the Greek graphien (drawing or writing). This distinction represents another screen printing world that was created or renewed alongside commercial development, mainly due to the occurrence of the Great Depression in the 1930s, which, due to the low investment and ease of the process required by the screen printing technique, encouraged its experimentation in the artistic field, largely through government agencies created in an emergency to keep thousands of unemployed citizens occupied and productive. The transformation of the already well-established mechanical process into a new tool for artistic expression, tailored to individual styles, revived and developed the roots of screen printing as an active and ever-present part of this printing technique, far beyond commercial repetition and industrial operation. Among the pioneers in this phase, the artists Anthony Velonis (who may have coined the term serigraphy earlier, but personally refused to take credit for it), Harry Stenberg, Elizabeth Olds, Louis Lozowick, Eugene Morley, Harry Shokler, Adolph Dehn, Hyman Warsager, and Ruth Chaney stand out. The practice of screen printing in art led to new artistic movements, including the controversial Pop Art, challenging renowned artists from various conceptual trends and ensuring the recognition of screen printing as a legitimate artistic technique, which until then had suffered from the prejudice of being considered a “minor art” associated with commerce and advertising. The Pop Art movement also contributed to the complete liberation of the technical knowledge of the process, which for decades of research and development would have been kept as a “trade secret”.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that this historical note is merely symbolic, highlighting that, despite the references described, the development of modern screen printing was due to the intense and constant work of an indefinable series of designers, photographers, decorators, engravers, printers, artisans, artists, and entrepreneurs, conditioned by a succession of events, circumstances, and locations, often touched by obscure aspects associated with specific contexts and commercial interests, which make the history of screen printing a difficult narrative to recount, susceptible to diverse perspectives and contradictory sources.

Screen printing continues its adaptation to technological advancement throughout the 21st century in the industrial sector, while simultaneously maintaining another traditional universe shaped by the skills of artists and artisans. This inexhaustible versatility of screen printing – sometimes sophisticated, involving the most advanced equipment, sometimes artisanal and dispensing with any automation – makes it the most versatile, timeless, and captivating printing technique.

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