Produced by Chris Curnow, David Garcia and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive)
ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION
Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process
[Illustration: FRONTISPIECE. ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION.]
ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION
_Historical and Practical Notes_
BY JOSEPH KIRKBRIDE
WITH TWO PLATES BY INK PHOTO PROCESS AND SIX ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
SCOTT, GREENWOOD & CO.
10 LUDGATE HILL, E.C.
NEW YORK
D. VAN NOSTRAND CO.
23 MURRAY STREET
1903
[_All Rights remain with Scott, Greenwood & Co._]
CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
ITS INCEPTION. A Theory of Evolution--A Distinct Progress 1
CHAPTER II
WOOD ENGRAVING. Rise and Progress--Block Books--Durer's
Influence--Hans Holbein--A Renaissance--Comparison and
Justification--The Illustrator 5
CHAPTER III
METAL ENGRAVING. The Invention--Early Engravers--National
Characteristics--A Progressive Review 18
CHAPTER IV
ENGRAVING IN ENGLAND. Introduction of Metal Engraving--Notable
British Engravers--Summary 26
CHAPTER V
ETCHING. Early Records--Descriptive--Rembrandt's
Influence--Wenceslaus Hollar 38
MEZZOTINT. Invention--Description--Artistic Qualities--Dilettanti
Art--A Modern Mezzo Engraver 38
CHAPTER VI
THE ENGRAVER'S TASK. Inartistic Work--Constructive
Elements--Outline--Extraneous Matter--Composition--Light
and Shade--Expression--Perspective--Execution 48
CHAPTER VII
PHOTO "PROCESS" ENGRAVING. A Progressive Process--Commercial
and Artistic Features--"Line" Process--"Half Tone"--Artistic
Restoration--Tri-chromatography--Photogravure 57
CHAPTER VIII
APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM. An Educative Principle--An
Analysis--Realism in Art Retrospect 66
INDEX 70
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
Plate I. _Frontispiece_
1. Old Wood Engraving (Erenburg Castle) _Facing p._ 10
2. Modern Wood Engraving (The Goose Fountain, Nuremburg) " 14
3. Old Wood Engraving " 28
4. Modern Wood Engraving " 54
5. Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace _Page_ 59
6. Process Engraving _Facing p._ 60
Plate II. " 64
PREFACE
A philosopher and writer has declared that "in our fine arts, not
imitation, but creation, is the aim."
It is to emphasise a distinction between an imitative and a creative
art that the following chapters are offered.
"Engraving for Illustration" is pre-eminently a creative art by which
the work of the artist is _translated_, "in order to render the effect
of his design in such a form as will admit of rapid and effective
reproduction."
It is, moreover, a popular art with a well-defined educative principle
underlying the numerous phases of its manifestation; while, at the same
time, its historical and general interest will commend this brief record
of its progress and influence to many who are lovers of art for art's
sake.
J. K.
LONDON _June 1903_.
ENGRAVING FOR ILLUSTRATION
CHAPTER I
_ITS INCEPTION_--A THEORY OF EVOLUTION--A DISTINCT PROGRESS
"In proportion to his force the artist will find in his work
an outlet for his proper character."--Emerson.
=Its Inception.=--It was the dawn of a new sense when primitive man
first ornamented his weapons, utensils, and the walls of his cave
dwellings with incised drawings,--pictorial representations which
enabled him to record events or suggest and illustrate thoughts and
ideas when his somewhat limited vocabulary failed him.
It was a severely utilitarian epoch of the world's history, and the
crude yet intensely realistic manifestations of man's artistic desires
were the more remarkable that they were wholly dependent upon stern
necessity for their realisation. Childlike in their simplicity, yet
both graphic and vigorous in expression, these ancient drawings bear
testimony to the intense desire of primeval man for some suitable and
satisfying form of pictorial expression. Such incised drawings were
undoubtedly the earliest forms, which the mind of man suggested and his
skill attained, of conveying information and displaying pictorial or
ornamental art. They were but crude conceptions of the untutored art of
a savage race, yet, with a characteristic quaintness of expression, they
abundantly prove the existence of an innate, imitative, and artistic
faculty, inspired by an insatiable craving for illustrative delineation.
=A Theory of Evolution.=--The antiquity of the engraver's art, then,
is exceedingly remote, and its earliest records display frequent
evidences of manipulative skill and artistic perception--evidences which
are still more convincing when the environment and scanty resources of
its exponents are fully appreciated. It was a most unique phase of that
process of evolution whereby the social education of the human race was
advanced, and through countless ages it has indicated the same onward
roll of progressive intelligence.
Responsive to the ever-changing conditions of life, the necessities of
mankind were constantly increasing. His higher intelligence also created
a greater diversity of interests, and consequently demanded a fuller and
more expressive vehicle of communication for his thoughts. No longer
content with what was only needful for the maintenance of social or
commercial intercourse, he sought to add to the archaic simplicity of
his drawings, skilful arrangement, and a certain degree of artistic
feeling and interpretation. It was as though some transitory flashes of
artistic power in the minds of prehistoric artists were struggling with
an inability to give adequate expression to their inceptions. Their
productions, some of them dating from the Palaeolithic and Neolithic
periods, were not pretentious works of art. Their primary purpose being
representative, their merit was, of course, decided by the success or
failure of such representation, apart from any artistic qualities they
might possess.
=A Distinct Purpose.=--The evident care with which many of the ancient
incised drawings or engravings were executed and preserved, together
with the permanent character of the materials employed, seems to
indicate that these simple yet graphic representations were produced
with the distinct purpose of perpetuating a memory as well as for the
amplification of a meagre language,--a purpose which considerably
enhances their interest, and suggests that the primeval engraver
appreciated some at least of the possibilities of his art. Moreover,
they frequently possess an intense veracity and directness of imitation
which renders them of inestimable value as reliable historical records.
Had caprice alone directed the artist's efforts, they would not in so
many instances have merited the interest and approval which they now
receive.
Such, then, were the beginnings of an art that subsequently reached its
maturity only by a slow growth of gradual development, and "which, in
the modesty and seriousness of its earlier manifestations, is at least
as interesting as in the audacity of its later and more impressionistic
phases."
Engraving as a reproductive as well as an ornamental art was at
different periods modified in accordance with ever-changing conditions
produced by the exigencies of national and industrial policy. Its
frequent adaptation to the various circumstances with which it was
indissolubly associated, and the fluctuations of an enthusiasm which was
more or less dependent upon national as well as social prosperity, fully
justifies the statement that "its history is the mirror of a nation's
progress."
The rude methods of ancient artists can be distinctly traced through
Egyptian, Assyrian, and Grecian history. Hieroglyphic and symbolic
figures, engraved on ancient Egyptian monuments, bear testimony to
a vast progress both in expressive and inventive power. Assyrian
antiquities disclose an art which is even more suggestive and
picturesque, while the ancient Greeks developed the highest qualities of
pictorial power, and raised the art to a marvellous pitch of excellence.
Beyond this brief epitome of the early history of engraving we need
not venture. The idea of taking impressions from any form of incised
drawings was not suggested until many centuries later.