Silkscreen printing is a technique that has been around for a very long time — we're talking centuries' worth of growth, development, and adoption across several cultures since it first emerged. It's one of the defining techniques of pop art and street culture, and it's still very much alive today.
Silkscreen Printing History: From Ancient China to Andy Warhol
Silkscreen printing traces its roots to China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), slowly spreading across Asia before eventually making its way to the rest of the world and evolving into its present form.
It's also known as serigraph printing or serigraphy — from the Greek selcos (silk) and graphos (to write). In simple terms, silkscreen printing is when ink is pushed through stencils held up by a fabric mesh stretched across a frame called a screen.
A squeegee or blade is drawn along the screen, forcing ink onto the base material beneath. Usually one colour is printed at a time, layer by layer, at the artist's discretion.
Originally made with silk — hence the name — the process has since evolved to use more practical materials like polyester. And while it's most associated with clothing, serigraphy works across all kinds of surfaces: decals, clocks, even balloons.
In the United States, silkscreen printing was first adopted commercially for marketing and advertising — companies screen printing posters, books, and signage for promotional campaigns.
But it was Andy Warhol who transformed it into a genuine art form. His Marilyn Diptych (1962) — Monroe rendered in layer after layer of bold, vibrant colour — became one of the most iconic works of the twentieth century. If that energy resonates, see original silkscreen prints here.
Other artists followed, using the medium in bold new ways — Sister Mary Corita Kent with her politically charged, vividly coloured prints in the 1960s, and Arthur Okamura whose screen prints fed into the San Francisco Renaissance art movement of the 1950s.
Since then, organisations around the world have formed to support and promote the medium. The most prominent is the National Serigraph Society, founded in 1940 by artists from the Federal Art Project, which hosts lectures, galleries, and publications dedicated to the form.
If you're interested in how printed imagery works in street art more broadly, also take a look at how paste-up art works.
Browse my original street pop art silkscreen prints — all made in Brighton.
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