Editing Screen printing (section)

=== Adoption in the West ===
Screen printing was largely introduced to Western Europe from Asia sometime in the late 18th century, but did not gain large acceptance or use in Europe until silk mesh was more available for trade from the east and a profitable outlet for the medium discovered.

Early in the 1910s, several printers experimenting with photo-reactive chemicals used the well-known [[actinic light]]–activated cross linking or hardening traits of potassium, sodium or ammonium [[chromate and dichromate]] chemicals with glues and [[gelatin]] compounds. Roy Beck, Charles Peter and Edward Owens studied and experimented with chromic acid salt sensitized emulsions for photo-reactive stencils. This trio of developers would prove to revolutionize the commercial screen printing industry by introducing photo-imaged stencils to the industry, though the acceptance of this method would take many years. Commercial screen printing now uses sensitizers far safer and less toxic than bichromates. Currently,{{When|date=November 2019}} there are large selections of pre-sensitized and "user mixed" sensitized emulsion chemicals for creating photo-reactive stencils.

A group of artists who later formed the [[National Serigraph Society]], including [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]] artists [[Max Arthur Cohn]], [[Anthony Velonis]] and [[Hyman Warsager]], coined the word "serigraphy" in the 1930s to differentiate the artistic application of screen printing from the industrial use of the process.<ref name="Velonis">{{cite web |title=Interview with WPA silkscreen artist Tony Velonis |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos/interview.html |website=Library of Congress |access-date=29 March 2020}}</ref> "Serigraphy" is a compound word formed from Latin "sēricum" (silk) and Greek "graphein" (to write or draw).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/serigraphy?r=14 |title=Serigraphy &#124; Define Serigraphy at Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=2012-11-15 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025131823/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/serigraphy?r=14 |archive-date=2012-10-25 }}</ref>

Historians of the New York WPA poster shop give sole credit to Anthony Velonis for establishing silkscreen methods used there, a reputation bolstered by the publication of his 1937 booklet ''Technical Problems of the Artist: Technique of the Silkscreen Process.'' Guido Lengweiler has corrected this misunderstanding in his book, ''A History of Screen Printing'', published in English in 2016. Outgrowths of these WPA poster shops, at least two New York City studios in wartime started decorating ceramic tiles with fire-on underglaze applied by silkscreen starting as early as 1939: Esteban Soriano and [[Harold Ambellan]]'s workshop called [[Designed Tiles]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jenssen |first1=Victoria |title=Designed Tiles: A Silkscreen Studio in New York, NY 1939-1978 |journal=Tile Heritage |date=Summer 2022 |volume=XI |pages=21–37}}</ref>

The Printers' National Environmental Assistance Center says, "Screenprinting is arguably the most versatile of all printing processes. Since rudimentary screenprinting materials are so affordable and readily available, it has been used frequently in [[underground art|underground]] settings and [[subculture]]s, and the non-professional look of such [[DIY culture]] screenprints have become a significant cultural aesthetic seen on movie posters, record album covers, flyers, shirts, commercial fonts in advertising, in artwork and elsewhere.{{Verify quote|date=October 2020}}