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The Artistic Crafts Series of Technical Handbooks
Edited By W. R. Lethaby
WOOD-BLOCK PRINTING
A Description of the Craft of
Woodcutting & Colour Printing
Based on the Japanese Practice
by
F. MORLEY FLETCHER
With Drawings and Illustrations by
the Author and A. W. Seaby.
Also Collotype Reproductions
of Various Examples of
Printing, and an Original
Print Designed and Cut by
the Author Printed by Hand
on Japanese Taper
[Illustration: Meadowsweet.
Collotype reproduction of a woodblock print by the Author.
(_Frontispiece_.)]
London
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.
Parker Street, Kingsway, W.C.2
Bath, Melbourne, Toronto, New York
Printed By
Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd.
Bath, England
EDITOR'S PREFACE
In issuing these volumes of a series of Handbooks on the Artistic
Crafts, it will be well to state what are our general aims.
In the first place, we wish to provide trustworthy text-books of
workshop practice, from the points of view of experts who have
critically examined the methods current in the shops, and putting aside
vain survivals, are prepared to say what is good workmanship, and to set
up a standard of quality in the crafts which are more especially
associated with design. Secondly, in doing this, we hope to treat design
itself as an essential part of good workmanship. During the last century
most of the arts, save painting and sculpture of an academic kind, were
little considered, and there was a tendency to look on "design" as a
mere matter of _appearance_. Such "ornamentation" as there was was
usually obtained by following in a mechanical way a drawing provided by
an artist who often knew little of the technical processes involved in
production. With the critical attention given to the crafts by Ruskin
and Morris, it came to be seen that it was impossible to detach design
from craft in this way, and that, in the widest sense, true design is an
inseparable element of good quality, involving as it does the selection
of good and suitable material, contrivance for special purpose, expert
workmanship, proper finish, and so on, far more than mere ornament, and
indeed, that ornamentation itself was rather an exuberance of fine
workmanship than a matter of merely abstract lines. Workmanship when
separated by too wide a gulf from fresh thought--that is, from
design--inevitably decays, and, on the other hand, ornamentation,
divorced from workmanship, is necessarily unreal, and quickly falls
into affectation. Proper ornamentation may be defined as a language
addressed to the eye; it is pleasant thought expressed in the speech of
the tool.
In the third place, we would have this series put artistic craftsmanship
before people as furnishing reasonable occupations for those who would
gain a livelihood. Although within the bounds of academic art, the
competition, of its kind, is so acute that only a very few per cent. can
fairly hope to succeed as painters and sculptors; yet, as artistic
craftsmen, there is every probability that nearly every one who would
pass through a sufficient period of apprenticeship to workmanship and
design would reach a measure of success.
In the blending of hand-work and thought in such arts as we propose to
deal with, happy careers may be found as far removed from the dreary
routine of hack labour as from the terrible uncertainty of academic art.
It is desirable in every way that men of good education should be
brought back into the productive crafts: there are more than enough of
us "in the city," and it is probable that more consideration will be
given in this century than in the last to Design and Workmanship.
* * * * *
There are two common ways of studying old and foreign arts--the way of
the connoisseur and the way of the craftsman. The collector may value
such arts for their strangeness and scarcity, while the artist finds in
them stimulus in his own work and hints for new developments.
The following account of colour-printing from wood-blocks is based on a
study of the methods which were lately only practised in Japan, but
which at an earlier time were to some degree in use in Europe also. The
main principles of the art, indeed, were well known in the West long
before colour prints were produced in Japan, and there is some reason to
suppose that the Japanese may have founded their methods in imitating
the prints taken from Europe by missionaries. Major Strange says: "The
European art of _chiaroscuro_ engraving is in all essentials identical
with that of Japanese colour-printing.... It seems, therefore, not vain
to point out that the accidental sight of one of the Italian
colour-prints may have suggested the process to the Japanese." The
Italians aimed more at expressing "relief" and the Japanese at flat
colour arrangements; the former used oily colours, and the latter fair
distemper tints; these are the chief differences. Both in the West and
the East the design was cut on the plank surface of the wood with a
knife; not across the grain with a graver, as is done in most modern
wood engraving, although large plank woodcuts were produced by Walter
Crane and Herkomer, about thirty years ago, as posters.
The old woodcuts of the fifteenth century were produced as pictures as
well as for the illustration of books; frequently they were of
considerable size. Often, too, they were coloured by stencil plates or
freely by hand.
At the same time the printing in colour of letters and other simple
devices in books from wood-blocks was done, and a book printed at St.
Albans in 1486 has many coats of arms printed in this way; some of the
shields having two or three different colours.[1]
About the year 1500 a method of printing woodcuts in several flat tones
was invented in Germany and practised by Lucas Cranach and others. A
fine print of Adam and Eve by Hans Baldung in the Victoria and Albert
Museum has, besides the bold black "drawing," an over-tint printed in
warm brown out of which sharp high lights are cut; the print is thus in
three tones.
[1] See R. M. Burch, _Colour Printing_, 1900.
Ugo da Carpo (_c._ 1480-1530) working in Venice, introduced this new
type of tone woodcut into Italy; indeed, he claimed to be the inventor
of the method. "This was called _chiaroscuro_, a name still given to
it, and was, in fact, a simple form of our modern chromo printing." His
woodcuts are in a simple, vigorous style; one of them after Raphael's
"Death of Ananias," printed in brown, has a depth and brilliancy which
may remind us of the mezzo-tints of Turner's _Liber Studiorum_. This is
proudly signed, "Per Ugo da Carpo," and some copies are said to be dated
1518.
Andrea Andreani (_c._ 1560-1623), a better known but not a better
artist, produced a great number of these tone woodcuts. Several prints
after Mantegna's "Triumphs of Caesar" have a special charm from the
beauty of the originals; they are printed in three tints of grey besides
the "drawing"; the palest of these tints covers the surface, except for
high lights cut out of it. A fine print of a Holy Family, about 15×18
inches, has a middle tone of fair blue and a shadow tint of full rich
green. Copies of two immense woodcuts at the Victoria and Albert Museum,
of Biblical subjects, seem to have been seems to cramp the hand and
injure the eyes of all but the most gifted draughtsmen. It is desirable
to cultivate the ability to seize and record the "map-form" of any
object rapidly and correctly. Some practice in elementary
colour-printing would certainly be of general usefulness, and simpler
exercises may be contrived by cutting out with scissors and laying down
shapes in black or coloured papers unaided by any pattern.
Finally, the hope may be expressed that the beautiful art of
wood-cutting as developed in Western Europe and brought to such
perfection only a generation ago is only temporarily in abeyance, and
that it too may have another day.
W. R. LETHABY.
_September 1916._
AUTHOR'S NOTE
This little book gives an account of one of the primitive crafts, in the
practice of which only the simplest tools and materials are used. Their
method of use may serve as a means of expression for artist-craftsmen,
or may be studied in preparation for, or as a guide towards, more
elaborate work in printing, of which the main principles may be seen
most clearly in their application in the primitive craft.
In these days the need for reference to primitive handicrafts has not
ceased with the advent of the machine. The best achievements of
hand-work will always be the standards for reference; and on their study
must machine craft be based. The machine can only increase the power
and scale of the crafts that have already been perfected by hand-work.
Their principles, and the art of their design, do not alter under the
machine. If the machine disregards these its work becomes base. And it
is under the simple conditions of a handicraft that the principles of an
art can be most clearly experienced.
The best of all the wonderful and excellent work that is produced to-day
by machinery is that which bears evidence in itself of its derivation
from arts under the pure conditions of classic craftsmanship, and shows
the influence of their study.
The series of which this book is a part stands for the principles and
the spirit of the classic examples. To be associated with those
fellow-craftsmen who have been privileged to work for the Series is
itself an honour of high estimation in the mind of the present writer.
If the book contributes even a little toward the usefulness of the
series the experiments which are recorded here will have been well
worth while.
To my friend Mr. J. D. Batten is due all the credit of the initial work.
He began the search for a pure style of colour-printing, and most
generously supported and encouraged my own experiments in the Japanese
method.
To my old colleague Mr. A. W. Seaby I would also express my indebtedness
for his kind help and advice.
F. M. F.
EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART,
_September 1916._
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Introduction and Description of the Origins of
Wood-block Printing--Its Uses for Personal
Artistic Expression, for Reproduction of
Decorative Designs, and as a Fundamental
Training for Student of Printed Decoration 1
CHAPTER II
General Description of the Operation of Printing
from a Set of Blocks 9
CHAPTER III
Description of the Materials and Tools required
for Block Cutting 17
CHAPTER IV
Block Cutting and the Planning of Blocks 23
CHAPTER V
Preparation of Paper, Ink, Colour, and Paste for
Printing 47
CHAPTER VI
Detailed Method of Printing--The Printing
Tools, Baren and Brushes 61
CHAPTER VII
Principles and Main Considerations in Designing
Wood-block Prints--Their Application to
Modern Colour Printing 81
CHAPTER VIII
Co-operative Printing 89
APPENDIX
Prints and Collotype Plates 94
Books of Reference 129
INDEX 130
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG. PAGE
1. PLAN OF WORK-TABLE 11
2. BLOCK MOUNTED WITH CROSS ENDS TO
PREVENT WARPING 18
3. DRAWING OF THE KNIFE 19
4. SIZES OF CHISELS 20
5. SHORT CHISEL IN SPLIT HANDLE 21
6. MALLET 21
7. POSITION OF THE HANDS IN USING THE
KNIFE 30
8. ANOTHER POSITION OF THE HANDS IN USING THE KNIFE 31
9. KNIFE CUTS IN SECTION 33
10. DIAGRAM OF KNIFE CUTS 33
11. METHOD OF HOLDING GOUGE 35
12. CLEARING OF WOOD BETWEEN KNIFE CUTS 35
13. POSITION OF REGISTER MARKS 37
14. REGISTER MARKS 37
15. REGISTER MARKS (SECTION OF) 38
16. SECTION OF COLOUR-BLOCK 42
17. DRAWING OF SIZING OF PAPER 49
18. CORK OF INK-BOTTLE WITH WAD FOR PRESERVATIVE 56
19. METHOD OF RE-COVERING BAREN 64
20. DRAWING OF BRUSHES 66
21. MANNER OF HOLDING THE PAPER 70
22. MANNER OF USING THE BAREN 72
COLLOTYPE PLATES
1. MEADOWSWEET. REPRODUCTION OF A WOOD-BLOCK
PRINT BY THE AUTHOR _Frontispiece_
2. KEY-BLOCK OF A PRINT DRAWN AND CUT
BY THE AUTHOR 5
3. THE BAREN, OR PRINTING PAD 12
4. COLOUR-BLOCK OF A PRINT OF WHICH THE
KEY-BLOCK IS SHOWN AT P. 5 23
5. IMPRESSION (NEARLY ACTUAL SIZE) OR A
PORTION OF A JAPANESE WOOD BLOCK
SHOWING GREAT VARIETY IN THE
CHARACTER OF THE LINES AND SPOTS
SUGGESTING FORM 26
6. REPRODUCTION OF AN IMPRESSION (REDUCED)
OF THE KEY-BLOCK OF A JAPANESE PRINT
SHOWING ADMIRABLE VARIETY IN THE
MEANS USED TO SUGGEST FORM 33
7. PORTION OF DETAIL FROM A JAPANESE
WOOD BLOCK 48
APPENDIX
PAGE
8. WOOD-BLOCK PRINT BY THE AUTHOR 95
9. FIRST PRINTING (_Collotype reproduction_) 98
10. SECOND PRINTING " " 100
11. THIRD PRINTING " " 102
12. FOURTH PRINTING " " 104
13. FIFTH PRINTING " " 105
14. SIXTH PRINTING " " 107
15. EIGHTH PRINTING " " 109
16. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR
PRINT BY HIROSHIGÉ 111
17. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION
OF THE PRINT SHOWN ON THE PRECEDING
PAGE, ACTUAL SIZE, SHOWING THE TREATMENT
OF THE FOLIAGE AND THE EXPRESSIVE
DRAWING OF THE TREE-TRUNK AND STEMS 114
18. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF ANOTHER
PORTION OF THE PRINT SHOWN ON P. 111
ACTUAL SIZE, SHOWING THE EXPRESSIVE
USE OF LINE IN THE DRAWING OF THE
DISTANT FORMS 116
19. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR
PRINT BY HIROSHIGÉ 118
20. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION
(ACTUAL SIZE) OF THE PRINT ON THE
PRECEDING PAGE, SHOWING TREATMENT
OF TREE FORMS AND DISTANCE 120
21. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A COLOUR
PRINT BY HIROSHIGÉ 121
22. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF A PORTION,
ACTUAL SIZE, OF THE PRINT ON THE
PRECEDING PAGE, SHOWING TREATMENT
OF TREE AND BLOSSOM 123
23. THE TIGER. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION
OF A COLOUR PRINT BY J. D. BATTEN 125
24. LAPWINGS. COLLOTYPE REPRODUCTION OF
A COLOUR PRINT BY A. W. SEABY 127
ERRATA
Page 62.--For "bamboo-sheath" read "bamboo leaf".
" 63.--In last paragraph, delete "the inside of".
" 64.--Third line from bottom, after "occasionally"
insert "when printing".
WOOD-BLOCK PRINTING
BY THE
JAPANESE METHOD
CHAPTER I
_INTRODUCTORY_
Introduction and Description of the Origins of Wood-block Printing;
its uses for personal artistic expression, for reproduction of
decorative designs, and as a fundamental training for students of
printed decoration.
The few wood-block prints shown from time to time by the Society of
Graver Printers in Colour, and the occasional appearance of a wood-block
print in the Graver Section of the International Society's Exhibitions,
or in those of the Society of Arts and Crafts, are the outcome of the
experiments of a small group of English artists in making prints by the
Japanese method, or by methods based on the Japanese practice.
My interest was first drawn in 1897 to experiments that were being made
by Mr. J. D. Batten, who for two years previously had attempted, and
partially succeeded in making, a print from wood and metal blocks with
colour mixed with glycerine and dextrine, the glycerine being afterwards
removed by washing the prints in alcohol. As the Japanese method seemed
to promise greater advantages and simplicity, we began experiments
together, using as our text-book the pamphlet by T. Tokuno, published by
the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the dextrine and glycerine
method was soon abandoned. The edition of prints, however, of Eve and
the Serpent designed by J. D. Batten, printed by myself and published at
that time, was produced partly by the earlier method and partly in the
simpler Japanese way.
Familiar as everyone is with Japanese prints, it is not generally known
that they are produced by means of an extremely simple craft. No
machinery is required, but only a few tools for cutting the designs on
the surface of the planks of cherry wood from which the impressions are
taken. No press is used, but a round flat pad, which is rubbed on the
back of the print as it lies on the blocks. The colours are mixed with
water and paste made from rice flour. The details of the craft and
photographs of the tools were given in full in the Smithsonian
Institution pamphlet already mentioned.
It is slow and unsatisfactory work, however, learning manipulation from
a book, and several technical difficulties that seemed insurmountable
were made clear by the chance discovery in London of a Japanese
printseller who, although not a printer, was sufficiently familiar with
the work to give some invaluable hints and demonstrations.
Further encouragement was given to the work by the institution, a little
later, of a class in wood-cuts in colour under my charge, at the L.C.C.
Central School of Arts and Crafts, which for several years became the
chief centre of the movement.
Such are the bare historical facts of the development in our country of
this craft imported from the Far East.
On a merely superficial acquaintance the Japanese craft of
block-printing may appear to be no more than a primitive though delicate
form of colour reproduction, which modern mechanical methods have long
superseded, even in the land of its invention; and that to study so
limited a mode of expression would be hardly of any practical value to
an artist. Moreover, the craft is under the disadvantage that all the
stages of the work, from making the first design to taking the final
impressions, must be done by the artist himself--work which includes the
delicate cutting of line and planning of colour blocks, and the
preparation of colour and paper. In Japan there were trained craftsmen
expert in each of these branches of the craft, and each carried out
his part under the supervision of the artist. No part but the design was
done by him. So that the very character of the work has an essential
difference. Under our present conditions the artist must undertake the
whole craft, with all its detail.
[Illustration: Plate II.--Key-block of the print shown on the
frontispiece.
(The portion of wood lying outside the points of the mass of foliage is
left standing to support the paper, but is not inked in printing.)
(_To face page 5._)]
Simple as the process is, there is, from first to last, a long labour
involved in planning, cutting and printing, before a satisfactory batch
of prints is produced. After several attempts in delegating printing to
well-trained pupils I have found it impossible to obtain the best
results by that means, but the cutting of the colour-blocks and the
clearing of the key-block after the first cutting of the line may well
be done by assistant craftsmen.
A larger demand for the prints might bring about a commercial
development of the work, and the consequent employment of trained
craftsmen or craftswomen, but the result would be a different one from
that which has been obtained by the artists who are willing to
undertake the whole production of their work.
The actual value of wood-block prints for use as decoration is a matter
of personal taste and experience.
In my own opinion there is an element that always remains foreign in the
prints of the Japanese masters, yet I know of no other kind of art that
has the same telling value on a wall, or the same decorative charm in
modern domestic rooms as the wood-block print. A single print well
placed in a room of quiet colour will enrich and dominate a whole wall.
The modern vogue still favours more expensive although less decorative
forms of art, or works of reproduction without colour, yet here is an
art available to all who care for expressive design and colour, and
within the means of the large public to whom the cost of pictures is
prohibitive. In its possibility as a decorative means of expression well
suited to our modern needs and uses, and in the particular charm that
colour has when printed from wood on a paper that is beautiful already
by its own quality, there is no doubt of the scope and opportunity
offered by this art.
But as with new wine and old bottles, a new condition of simplicity in
furniture and of pure colour in decoration must first be established. A
wood-block print will not tell well amid a wilderness of bric-à-brac or
on a gaudy wall-paper.
From another and quite different point of view, the art of block-cutting
and colour-printing has, however, a special and important value. To any
student of pictorial art, especially to any who may wish to design for
modern printed decoration, no work gives such instruction in economy of
design, in the resources of line and its expressive development, and in
the use and behaviour of colour. This has been the expressed opinion of
many who have undertaken a course of wood-block printing for this object
alone.
The same opinion is emphatically stated by Professor Emil Orlik, whose
prints are well known in modern exhibitions. On the occasion of a visit
to the Kunstgewerbeschule of Berlin, I found him conducting a class for
designers for printed decoration, in which the Japanese craft of
block-printing was made the basis of their training. He held to the view
that the primitive craft teaches the students the very economy and
simplicity upon which the successful use of the great modern resources
of colour-printing depend, yet which cannot be learnt except by recourse
to simpler conditions and more narrow limitations before dealing with
the greater scope of the machine.
My own experience also convinces me that whatever may be the ultimate
value of the Eastern craft to our artists as a mode of personal
expression, there is no doubt of its effect and usefulness in training
students to design with economy and simplicity for modern printing
processes.