Engraving for Illustration Part 4

"It is not knowledge itself which is power, but the ability to use and apply knowledge."

=A Progressive Process.=--Photo process engraving is a method of graphic reproduction which comes into direct contact with art in its most popular phases.

It is a distinctly progressive process which possesses immense advantages and represents an effective and by no means inartistic aspect of the graphic arts. The lavish, and in many instances extravagant, employment of process engraving for purposes of pictorial ill.u.s.tration is a substantial proof of its popularity and ill.u.s.trative value. It may not always reach a high standard of artistic realisation, but it is almost invariably realistic and attractive in its varied forms of representation.

The idea of pictorial ill.u.s.tration, whether as the translation of an artistic conception or an actual representation of current events, has ever been a fascinating one; and its evolution, from a photo-mechanical standpoint, has been one unbroken record of remarkable progress.

To enter upon a detailed exposition of any of the many photo-mechanical processes is somewhat beyond the purpose of this short treatise, and to attempt anything but a full and comprehensive description on such lines would be both unwise and valueless. Let it suffice, then, to indicate their more salient points, their ill.u.s.trative and artistic value, and the manner in which they may be most successfully applied.

=Commercial and Artistic Features.=--The commercial advantages of photo-engraving may be summed up in a very few words:--

1. The plates can be produced quickly and economically.

2. The impressions can be made at a high rate of speed, and in some of the processes without perceptible deterioration.

3. The prints will be more or less facsimiles of the original.

From an artistic point of view, photo-engraving possesses equally important features. It translates the artist's work with extraordinary facility and accuracy, retaining a satisfactory proportion of its expressive feeling, and reproducing subtleties of drawing and texture which it would be difficult, if not quite impossible, to obtain by any other process. Of the many photo-mechanical engraving processes, all of which are more or less a.s.sociated with pictorial ill.u.s.tration, three at least merit further consideration.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 5.--Cross Section of Cyanide Furnace.

The "Line Process."]

(_a_) =The "Line" Process.=--The "line" process is applicable only to the reproduction of line drawings or prints, in which the design is represented in simple black and white, with only such gradations of tone as may be suggested by lines or dots. For the reproduction of pen-and-ink drawings, it has found considerable favour with ill.u.s.trators, and many even of the more conservative artists are compelled to appreciate its merits and acknowledge its value. An interesting account of the compulsory acceptance of process engraving by the famous ill.u.s.trator "Du Maurier" is suggestive of at least one valuable peculiarity of this method of reproduction. Owing to failing sight, Du Maurier found it increasingly difficult to introduce into his drawings on the wood block that amount of detail which he considered necessary for the adequate expression of his ideas. Eventually he was compelled to make pen-and-ink drawings on a much larger scale than was his wont, and to have them reproduced as photo-line-blocks, the reduction being made as required.

(_b_) =Half Tone.=--"Half tone" process engraving, as distinguished from the "line" process, is the reproduction of a design or copy which has in its composition gradations of tone in the form of flat tints. Wash drawings and photographs present characteristic examples of such copies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6.--Process Engraving.

_Block by the Arc Engraving Co. Ltd., London._]

The true relative value of these medium or half tones can only be retained in the half tone engraving by breaking up the picture into most minute sections, and thereby producing a grain or series of dots of varying size and contiguity according to the requirements of the drawing. This grain or "screen" effect is produced by the interposition of a network of finely ruled lines in the form of a screen between the lens and the sensitive plate when photographing. The optical principle involved is beyond the sphere of this work, but the effect produced is a matter of vital importance, and requires careful consideration.

The coa.r.s.er the ruling of a screen, consistent of course with the cla.s.s of work for which it is required, the more vigorous and consequently more effective the reproduction will appear. The variety of tones will be greater, and the textures will appear richer. Small prints are naturally subjected to a close inspection; the screen effect, therefore, should be less obtrusive than in larger ones. It may also be useful to know that a finely ruled screen will reproduce the minute details of a copy.

=Artistic Restoration.=--It is somewhat doubtful if the half tone engraving, pure and simple, would ever have any real artistic value for pictorial ill.u.s.tration but for some method of restoring those qualities which are so considerably reduced when copying a picture through the line screen. The pure half tone consists of a grain of varying gradations over the whole design. There are, therefore, no pure whites even in the highest lights. The use of the roulette and graver for accentuating light and shade is therefore not only permissible but decidedly advantageous, for the monotony of a mechanical grain is thereby relieved, and the print produced will be an effective and accurate translation of the artistic sketch.

"A true half tone will be best obtained by not relying entirely on the mechanical means, but a.s.sisting them with some hand work, either in the shape of re-etching or engraving, or both."

The application of hand engraving to photo-mechanical work has been chiefly due to American process workers, who applied the technique of the wood engraver's art to the amplification of their half tone blocks.

=Tri-chromatography.=--The "Three Colour Process" is more or less an application of half tone engraving to chromo-typography. The colours, each in their relative value, are produced by purely photo-mechanical methods--the colours of the original copy being dissected by means of specially prepared colour screens. Half tone blocks are made from each of the three negatives, and superimposed in accurate register in the subsequent printing, when, of course, the primary colours, red, blue, and yellow, are used.

The process possesses brilliant and effective ill.u.s.trative power, offers ample scope for the ingenuity and manipulative skill of artist, engraver, and printer, and promises well-nigh unlimited possibilities as a medium of pictorial expression.

(_c_) =Photogravure.=--Photogravure may be very briefly described. It is a photo-mechanical process, in which rich, soft tones of surpa.s.sing delicacy and undeniably artistic effect are striking peculiarities.

Unlike "line" and "half tone" engraving, it is an intaglio process, in which the printer as well as the etcher must possess a profound artistic perception.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Reproduction by R. J. EVERETT & SONS' "INK-PHOTO" Process.

Plate ENGRAVING FOR ILl.u.s.tRATION

WITHIN A MILE OF EDINBURGH TOWN.]

A polished copper plate is grained by dusting resin or asphalt powder on its surface, and afterwards fixing it by the application of heat.

A _tissue_ negative print is made, squeezed on to the grained plate, and developed in the usual way. The plate is etched through the tissue.

The action of the etching mordant--perchloride of iron--being in exact proportion to the light and shade of the developed print.

The printing is a necessarily slow, and therefore costly, item.

This limitation to their production, however, enhances the value of photogravure prints.

=Ink Photo.=--What is known as the ink photo process of reproduction is interesting chiefly on account of the remarkable fidelity with which engravings of the finest and most intricate texture can be reproduced by its agency. It is essentially a photo-mechanical process, but differs from others of a similar character, inasmuch as the vigour and expressive power of the original is to a considerable extent preserved.

Colour values also, as far as they can be expressed by the engraver's art (see p. 11), are reproduced by ink photo methods with surprising accuracy, and the intensity of impression, that peculiar feature of prints from engraved plates, is almost invariably well sustained.

A careful criticism of the appended ill.u.s.tration and frontispiece done, this process will reveal many other interesting points of practical value.

CHAPTER VIII

_APPRECIATIVE CRITICISM_--AN EDUCATIVE PRINCIPLE--AN a.n.a.lYSIS--REALISM IN ART--A RETROSPECT

"Yet when we have said all our fine things about the arts, we must end in a frank confession that the arts, as we know them, are but initial. He has conceived meanly of the resources of man who believes that the best age of production is past."

=Appreciative Criticism.=--The art of engraving, and particularly wood engraving, has fully justified its existence, and the eminently popular position which it has long held amongst the fine arts of the world.

Through the medium of the pictorial press it has diffused a knowledge of the n.o.blest principles of art, and has ever exerted a refining influence even over inartistic minds. For this reason the lack of knowledge concerning some of the essential qualities of engraving as a pictorial art is somewhat remarkable. Even more so when it is considered that never before in the history of the world has such a wealth of ill.u.s.trative art been produced and brought well within the reach of its humblest patrons.

It is perhaps too much to expect, nor is it at all desirable, that individual preference should be moulded to one common and fixed standard. To some minds the picturesque, though perhaps undignified paintings of the old Dutch masters, would appeal with greater success than the wondrous light and shade of Turner's pictures. Or, again, the astonishing technicalities and intricacies of German wood engraving may stir up a deeper interest and enthusiasm than the simple yet expressive productions of Thomas Bewick. Yet such a difference of opinion may exist only in individual appreciation or taste. The appreciative faculties in mankind are in the main identical.

=An Educative Principle.=--There is in human life an omnipotent and omniscient educative principle which may, to some extent at least, be rendered subservient to the human will, but which in other respects is as certain in its results and impulses as the course of the planets.

Those who surround themselves with the beautiful in Nature and in Art, whose minds are constantly in communion with the grand and n.o.ble purposes they suggest, are infinitely more sensible to their manifold beauties than those of their fellows who persistently disregard, and even repel, artistic influences. Their appreciation of the full significance of any artistic production is deeper, more sincere, and more equable than is that of those who neglect the aspirations of the finer fibres of their beings, and thus allow their higher faculties to become blunted, and their judgments warped. "Verily unto him that hath shall be given," etc.

The most independent and most penetrative imagination is not by any means a free agent. Environment, mental culture, and natural temperament are each controlling influences of variable power; yet there is much truth in the philosophy which declares that "It is as easy to excite the intellectual faculties as the limbs to useful action."

=The Artist's Purpose.=--A misconception of the artist's aim almost invariably leads to a condemnation of his work. First of all discover his purpose, and then decide upon the success or non-success of his conceptions. The _style_ of their execution, _i.e._ the manner in which various surfaces and textures are reproduced, is but a means to an end.

It is infinitely easier to a.s.similate a style once its objective has been clearly comprehended.

=An a.n.a.lysis.=--For obvious reasons, then, an a.n.a.lysis of the merits and demerits of the engraver's art is not always a simple matter. His work may be an acceptable pictorial record, though not in any sense a picture from an artistic point of view. On the other hand, it may possess artistic qualities in abundance, and yet be far from a truthful record of an incident or scene.

=Realism in Art.=--It is frequently claimed for graphic art that when it cannot faithfully imitate it is permissible for it to interpret.

Quite so; and it is in just such a light that engraving is or ought to be regarded. A picture, whether ill.u.s.trating a story or recording an artistic impression, is never so great as when it enchants the imagination with an ideal presence. Absolute realism is not always desirable either in pictorial art or pictorial expression. No matter how realistic it may be, it is a doubtful gain to introduce into the composition of a picture a ma.s.s of detail which might only prove disconcerting, and distract attention from the main issues of the subject. The partial or complete isolation of a central idea often adds to the vigour and general effectiveness of the whole. Rarely, indeed, does it render it less picturesque. After all, it is not Nature so much as Nature's expression which should be represented. Its infinity of secondary effects, its superabundance of detail, may, often with advantage, be left out.

=A Retrospect.=--While in this critical mood, it may be worth while noting that the sincere and painstaking work of the old-time engravers is deserving of some praise and an ever tolerant criticism. It manifests incongruities and exaggerated metaphors which are at times painfully unconventional or grotesque, yet they have a directness of representation which admits of no doubt as to their meaning, and bear few traces of a perfunctory art.

"Our arts are happy hits. We are like the musician on the lake whose melody is sweeter than he knows, or like a traveller surprised by a mountain echo whose trivial word returns to him in romantic thunders."--Emerson.