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Screen print
Screen printing uses a mesh with a stencil to force ink onto paper or another surface, one colour at a time.
Screen print, schematic. Shapes are drawn for illustration.
What the sources say
| Point | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Method | A stencil blocks non-printing areas; ink is forced through the open mesh with a rubber blade | Tate |
| Colours | One colour is printed at a time, so several screens build a multicolour image | Wikipedia |
| Name | The term serigraphy was used to separate artistic from industrial screen printing | Wikipedia |
| Use | Commercial use since the 1920s; widely used by artists as printmaking from the 1950s | Tate |
| Origin | Wikipedia traces it to block printing in China | Wikipedia |
For wall art
Layered flat colours are the look of a screen print; a screen print is made by hand-pulled stencils, unlike an inkjet reproduction.
Where the sources stop
Wikipedia traces the method to block printing in China while Tate gives commercial use from the 1920s; the scopes differ. Britannica could not be fetched.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Screen printing (fetched 2026-11-12)
- Tate art terms: screenprint (fetched 2026-11-12)
Figures from these pages are paraphrased; each page was fetched and read on 2026-11-12. Where two sources differ, both are shown.