For Centuries, women have made a significant contribution to the medium of print: from noble women learning new skills to entertain their friends to women using print as a means of income, as well as women painters experimenting in a new medium. Illustrating the lack of women artists in the 16th century and a level of uncertainty about them, the Renaissance artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari included only a handful in his 1568 edition of the Lives of the Artists.: among them, Diana Scultori, known as Diana Mantovana (1547-1612). In the following century the celebrated etcher, Elisabetta Sirani (1638-1665) from Bologna, won the praise of the biographer Carlo Cesare Malvasia (1616-1669). Sirani helped elevate more women artists, opening what is considered to be the first art school in Europe for women.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, printmaking was regarded as an appropriate way for women of noble birth to engage with the arts, prime examples being Madame Pompadour (1721-1764) and Queen Victoria (1819-1901). While women of noble birth were producing prints for entertainment and pleasure, women of lower rank in society used printmaking as a source of income. Utilizing the skills they had at their disposal, often acquired from schooling in drawing, these women were able to create, publish and sell prints to generate revenue. Many of them were introduced to the medium by men. They were often already established in the field, but the tutelage and association with their male peers gave them a head start in the field.
In the 18th and 19th centuries Angelica Kauffman and Maria Cosway, already famed as painters, made a vast contribution to the medium of printmaking. Their renown among the upper classes was carefully cultivated, allowing them to thrive in the profession while retaining their feminine sensibilities.
The 20th century saw a rise in the number of female artists, some of whom also turned to the art of printmaking. The most famous was the American Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), often mistakenly credited as the first female printmaker. But there were others. For example, in France, Berthe Morisot (1841-1895); in England the woodcutters Gwen Raverat (1885-1857) and Clare Leighton (1898-1989). Perhaps the best known in Italy was the etcher Federica Galli (1932-2009), but many more practiced the art of printing in the first half of the 20th century: among them Bice Ferrari (1841-1922), Marta Granchi (active in the 1930s), Nina Ferrari (1878-1926) and Ottavia Lina Pogliaghi (1891-1974).
Today the popularity of printmaking is in decline. If the 20th century had already seen a decline in interest due to the mistaken idea that it could only be a reproductive technique, today the spread of increasingly pervasive and overbearing visual media makes it even more difficult to cultivate the sensitivity necessary to appreciate the subtle refinements of this art.
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