FOR STUDY OF PATTERN AND COLOR. The art of wood block printing has been
practised for ages in Oriental countries. Our word “calico” is from the
name of an Indian town, Calicut, whence printed patterns were brought to
England. The older Indian designs, now very rare, had great beauty of line
and color. These ancient cotton prints are used by the Japanese for outer
coverings of pieces of precious pottery,—first a silk brocade bag, then
one of Indian calico enveloping a wooden box in which is the bowl wrapped
in plain cotton cloth. The process of wood block printing is very simple,
and in my opinion of special educational value. After observation of the
craft in India in 1904 I determined to introduce it into art courses—both
for adults and children. The method is outlined below:
1. Design the pattern in pencil or ink.
2. Draw the unit, with attention to its shape and proportions and the
effect when repeated.
3. Paste this face down upon a wood block; pine, gum wood, or a hard
wood of close grain.
[No. 68. COMPOSITION XVII—Wood Block Printing.]
[No. 69. The Marsh Creek. Wood block print by Arthur W. Dow.]
4. Cut away the white spaces, clearing with a gouge. As the block is to
be used as a stamp, the corners and all outside the design, must be
removed.
5. Printing. Lay a piece of felt upon a slate, or upon a glass, pour a
few drops of mucilage upon the felt, and mix with it either common
water color, or dry color. Distribute this evenly with a flat
bristle brush. Make a large pad, say 22 x 28 or 14 x 20, by tacking
cambric upon a drawing board. Under the cambric should be one
thickness of felt.
PRINTING on PAPER. A slightly rough absorbent surface prints well.
Wrapping paper can be found in many colors, tones and textures, and is
inexpensive. Damp paper will give clear‐cut impressions.
Lay the paper upon the large pad; charge the block upon the small pad, and
stamp the pattern. If the impression is poor, the cause may be:—(a) Face
of block is not level; rub it upon a sheet of fine sand‐paper; (b) large
pad is uneven; (c) paper is wrinkled or is too glossy; (d) color is too
thick or too wet. Practice will overcome these small difficulties.
PRINTING on CLOTH. The best effects are obtained with dyes, but their
manipulation is not easy, and their permanence is doubtful unless one has
expert knowledge of the processes of dyeing. The most convenient medium
for the student is oil color thinned with turpentine (to which may be
added a very little acetic acid and oil of wintergreen). This, when dry,
is permanent and can be washed,—but not with hot water or strong soap.
With the design in fixed form upon the block, effort can be concentrated
upon the make‐up of the pattern, and the color‐harmony. By cutting a block
for each color the designer may vary the schemes almost to infinity. Where
choices are many and corrections easy, invention can have free play.
Examples of students’ printing on paper are given on page 121.
PICTURE PRINTING is a more difficult, but fascinating form of this art‐
craft. Here must be gradation, transparent and vibrating color,
atmospheric over‐tone binding all together. For these qualities the
Japanese process is best, with its perfected tools and methods. In theory
it is very simple: The outline is drawn in ink upon thin paper, and the
sheet pasted face down upon the flat side of a board; the block is then
engraved with a knife and gouges, the drawing being left in relief; the
paper is removed from the lines with a damp cloth, and the block charged
with ink. Dry black mixed with mucilage and water, or any black water
color will answer. For charging, the Japanese use a thick short brush,—a
round bristle brush will serve the purpose. When ink is scrubbed evenly
over the whole surface, the block is ready for printing. A sheet of
Japanese paper, slightly dampened, is laid upon the block and rubbed
gently with a circular pad called a “baren.” This wonderful instrument
draws the ink up into the paper, giving a clear rich soft line. The baren
is made of a leaf of bamboo stretched over a saucer‐like disk of
pasteboard, within which is coiled a braided fibre‐mat.
If the block has been properly cleared, and the baren is moved in level
sweeps, the paper will not be soiled by ink between the lines. After
printing a number of outlines the colors are painted upon them and color‐
blocks engraved. It is possible to have several colors upon the same
board, if widely separated. Accurate registry is obtained by two marks at
the top of the board and one at the side. The paper must be kept of the
same degree of moisture, otherwise it will shrink and the last impressions
will be out of register.
Dry colors mixed with water and a little mucilage, or better still, common
water colors, may be used. No. 69 is a reproduction of a print made in the
Japanese way. (In 1895 I exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts a
collection of my wood block prints. Professor Fenollosa wrote the
introduction to the catalogue, discussing the possibilities, for color and
design, of this method, then new to America. In “Modern Art” for July,
1896, I described the process in full, with illustrations, one in color.)
STENCILLING, like wood block printing, invites variation of rhythm and
color combination. Stencilling is often done without sufficient knowledge
of the craft. The student should understand that a stencil is simply a
piece of perforated water proof paper or metal to be laid upon paper or
cloth and scrubbed over with a thick brush charged with color; long
openings must be bridged with “ties,” and all openings must be so shaped
that their edges will remain flat when the brush passes over them.
[Japanese Stencil.]
Stencil units are usually large, offering good opportunities for
Subordination (page 23), Symmetry, and Proportion (page 28). A unit must
not only be complete in itself but must harmonize with itself in
Repetition (pp. 36, 66). Stencils may be cut upon thick manila paper which
is then coated with shellac; or upon oiled paper. If stencil brushes
cannot be obtained one may use a common, round, house‐painter’s brush,
wound with string to within an inch of the end.
Colors may be,—oil thinned with turpentine; dyes; or dry colors ground on
a slab with water and mucilage. Charge the brush with thin, thoroughly
mixed pigment; if there is too much it will scrape off under the edges of
the stencil and spoil the print. Unprinted wall paper (“lining paper”) is
cheap and very satisfactory for stencilling. It should be tinted with a
thin solution of color to which a little mucilage has been added. Use a
large flat brush about four inches wide, applying the color with rapid
vertical and horizontal strokes.
COLORED CHARCOAL. This is a further development of the method described in
Chapter XIII (see also page 113). Lay in the picture in light values of
charcoal, remembering that the colorwashes will darken every tone. Too
much rubbing with the stump gives muddiness, too little charcoal may
weaken the values and you will have a “washout.” When the notan‐scheme is
right, the drawing may be fixed. It can be colored without fixing if the
stump has been used.
Color is applied in thin washes allowing the charcoal texture to shine
through. Notan plays the larger part, furnishing the structure of the
composition and giving a harmonic basis for the color. If the hues are
well‐chosen, the result should be a harmony of atmospheric depth, with
soft but glowing colors.
PAINTING in FULL COLOR. In a book devoted to the study of art‐structure
not much space can be given to comparison of mediums, or to professional
problems of technique in advanced painting. They will be mentioned to show
the unity of the progressive series, to suggest to the student some lines
of research and experiment, and to help him in choosing his field of art‐
work.
WATER COLOR. This medium is used in many different ways: as a thin
transparent stain, like the work of David Cox, Cotman, De Wint; as a
combination of opaque color and wash, with which J. M. W. Turner painted
air, distance, infinity, the play of light over the world; as flat wash
filling in outlines, like the drawings of Millet and Boutet de Monvel; as
the modern Dutch use it, in opaque pastel‐like strokes on gray paper, or
scrubbed in with a bristle brush; as premier coup painting with no outline
(both drawing and painting) like much Japanese work.
In all these, line is the basis, whether actually drawn, as by Millet and
Rembrandt, or felt, as by the Japanese and Turner. The best painting has
form and character in every brush‐touch.
OIL COLOR. Instruction in oil painting is usually limited to what might be
called drawing in paint. Of course the student must know his pigments, how
to obtain hues and values by mixing, how to use brushes, how to sketch in,
and all the elementary details,—but this is but a beginning. Expression of
an idea or emotion depends upon appreciation of art structure; the point
is not so much how to paint, as how to paint well. Artists often say that
it matters not how you get an effect, if you only get it. This is
misleading; it does matter,—the greatest painters get their effects in a
fine way.
Methods of handling oil color may be reduced to two general classes: (a)
the paint is used thin, as a wash, on a prepared canvas, or (b) it is put
on in thick opaque touches. In either case the aim is the same—to paint
for depth, vibration, illusion of light and color. If brush strokes are to
be left intact, each of them must have shape and meaning,—that is, line;
if color is put on in a thin wash, then its value, gradation, hue and
texture are the main points,—and these belong to structural harmony. Mural
painting is the highest form of the art, demanding perfect mastery of
Composition. The subject takes visible form in terms of Line; then is
added the mystery, the dramatic counter‐play of Notan, and the
illumination of Color. The creative spirit moves onward absorbing in its
march all drawing, perspective, anatomy, principles of design, color
theory—everything contributing to Power.