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diff --git a/32320-8.txt b/32320-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b7691e --- /dev/null +++ b/32320-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4324 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Art of Illustration, by Henry Blackburn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Art of Illustration + 2nd ed. + +Author: Henry Blackburn + +Release Date: May 10, 2010 [EBook #32320] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Chris Curnow and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + + +THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION. + + + [Illustration: "THE TRUMPETER." (SIR JOHN GILBERT, R.A.) + + (_Drawn in pen and ink, from his picture in the Royal Academy, 1883._) + + [Size of drawing, 5-1/2 by 4-3/4 in. Photo-zinc process.]] + + + + + The Art of Illustration. + + BY + HENRY BLACKBURN, + + _Editor of "Academy Notes," Cantor Lecturer on Illustration, &c._ + + WITH + NINETY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + SECOND EDITION. + + + LONDON: + W. H. ALLEN & CO., LIMITED, + 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. + + 1896. + + + + + PRINTED BY + WYMAN AND SONS, LIMITED, + LONDON, W.C. + + + + + DEDICATED TO + SIR JOHN GILBERT, R.A., + ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL PIONEERS + OF BOOK AND NEWSPAPER ILLUSTRATION. + + + + [Illustration: (PEN-AND-INK DRAWING FROM HIS PICTURE, BY MR. CHARLES + COLLINS, 1892.) + + [Photo-zinc process.]] + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The object of this book is to explain the modern systems of Book and +Newspaper Illustration, and especially the methods of drawing for what +is commonly called "process," on which so many artists are now engaged. + +There is almost a revolution in illustration at the present time, and +both old and young--teachers and scholars--are in want of a handbook for +reference when turning to the new methods. The illustrator of to-day is +called upon suddenly to take the place of the wood engraver in +interpreting tone into line, and requires practical information which +this book is intended to supply. + +The most important branch of illustration treated of is _line drawing_, +as it is practically out of reach of competition by the photographer, +and is, moreover, the kind of drawing most easily reproduced and printed +at the type press; but wash drawing, drawing upon grained papers, and +the modern appliances for reproduction, are all treated of. + +The best instructors in drawing for process are, after all, the +_painters of pictures_ who know so well how to express themselves in +black and white, and to whom I owe many obligations. There is a wide +distinction between their treatment of "illustration" and the so-called +"pen-and-ink" artist. + +The "genius" who strikes out a wonderful path of his own, whose +scratches and splashes appear in so many books and newspapers, is of the +"butterfly" order of being--a creation, so to speak, of the processes, +and is not to be emulated or imitated. There is no reason but custom +why, in drawing for process, a man's coat should be made to look like +straw, or the background (if there be a background) have the appearance +of fireworks. No ability on the part of the illustrator will make these +things tolerable in the near future. There is a reaction already, and +signs of a better and more sober treatment of illustration, which only +requires a _better understanding of the requirements and limitations of +the processes_, to make it equal to some of the best work of the past. + +The modern illustrator has much to learn--more than he imagines--in +drawing for the processes. A study of examples by masters of line +drawing--such as Holbein, Menzell, Fortuny or Sandys--or of the best +work of the etchers, will not tell the student of to-day exactly what he +requires to know; for they are nearly all misleading as to the +principles upon which modern process work is based. + +In painting we learn everything from the past--everything that it is +best to know. In engraving also, we learn from the past the best way to +interpret colour into line, but in drawing for the processes there is +practically no "past" to refer to; at the same time the advance of the +photographer into the domain of illustration renders it of vital +importance to artists to put forth their best work in black and white, +and it throws great responsibility upon art teachers to give a good +groundwork of education to the illustrator of the future. In all this, +education--_general education_--will take a wider part. + +The ILLUSTRATIONS have been selected to show the possibilities of +"process" work in educated, capable hands, rather than any _tours de +force_ in drawing, or exploits of genius. They are all of modern work, +and are printed on the same sheets as the letterpress. + +_All the Illustrations in this book have been reproduced by mechanical +processes, excepting nine_ (marked on the list), which are engraved on +wood. + +Acknowledgments are due to the Council of the Society of Arts for +permission to reprint a portion of the Cantor Lectures on "Illustration" +from their Journal; to the Editors of the _National Review_ and the +_Nineteenth Century_, for permission to reprint several pages from +articles in those reviews; to the Editors and Publishers who have lent +illustrations; and above all, to the artists whose works adorn these +pages. + + H. B. + + 123, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER. + + _May, 1894._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I.--INTRODUCTORY 1 + + CHAPTER II.--ELEMENTARY ILLUSTRATION 15 + + Diagrams--Daily Illustrated Newspapers--Pictorial _v._ Verbal + Description. + + CHAPTER III.--ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATIONS 40 + + Education of the Illustrator--Line Drawing for + Process--Sketching from Life--Examples of Line Drawing. + + CHAPTER IV.--THE PROCESSES 102 + + "Photo zinco"--Gelatine Process--Grained Papers--Mechanical + Dots--"Half-tone" Process--Wash Drawing--Illustrations from + Photographs--_Sketch_, _Graphic_, &c.--Daniel Vierge. + + CHAPTER V.--WOOD ENGRAVING 182 + + CHAPTER VI.--THE DECORATIVE PAGE 197 + + CHAPTER VII.--AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR, & PUBLISHER 211 + + STUDENTS' DRAWINGS 223 + + APPENDIX 233 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +[_The copyright of all pictures sketched in this book is strictly +reserved._] + + PAGE + "The Trumpeter." Sir John Gilbert, R.A. (_Process_) vi + Swans. Charles Collins " ix + "Ashes of Roses." G. H. Boughton, A.R.A. " 5 + "Badminton in the Studio." R. W. Macbeth, A.R.A. " 6 + "A Son of Pan." William Padgett " 11 + "Home by the Ferry." Edward Stott " 12 + Man in Chain Armour. Lancelot Speed " 14 + "Greeting." The Hon. Mrs. Boyle " 15 + Diagrams (5) " 19-32 + View above Blankenburg (_Wood_) 38 + The Curvature of the World's Surface " 39 + "Tiresome Dog." E. K. Johnson (_Process_) 43 + "Frustrated." Walter Hunt " 44 + "On the Riviera." Ellen Montalba " 46 + "Landscape with Trees." M. R. Corbet " 47 + "An Odd Volume." H. S. Marks, R.A. " 49 + "A Select Committee." H. S. Marks, R.A. " 50 + "The Rose Queen." G. D. Leslie, R.A. " 52 + "Finding of the Infant St. George." C. M. Gere " 56 + "A Ploughboy." G. Clausen " 59, 61 + "Blowing Bubbles." C. E. Wilson " 65 + "Cathedral, from Ox Body Lane." H. Railton " 69 + "By Unfrequented Ways." W. H. Gore " 70, 71 + "Adversity." Fred. Hall " 73, 75 + "A Willowy Stream." Maud Naftel " 76 + "Twins." Stanley Berkeley " 79 + "The Dark Island." Alfred East " 80 + "A Portrait." T. C. Gotch " 83 + Sir John Tenniel. Edwin Ward " 87 + The Rt. Hon. John Morley. Edwin Ward " 90 + "Nothing venture, nothing have." E. P. Sanguinetti " 92, 93 + "On the Terrace." E. A. Rowe " 94 + "For the Squire." Sir John Millais, Bart., R.A. " 97 + "The Stopped Key." H. S. Marks, R.A. " 100 + Nymph and Cupid. Henry Holiday " 101 + Illustration to "_The Blue Poetry Book_." L. Speed " 102 + A Portrait. T. Blake Wirgman. " 103 + "Forget Me Not." Henry Ryland " 105 + "Baby's Own." G. Hillyard Swinstead " 107 + "A Silent Pool." E. W. Waite " 108 + "The Miller's Daughter." E. K. Johnson " 111 + "The End of the Chapter." W. Rainey. " 112 + "In the Pas de Calais." J. P. Beadle " 113 + "Golden Days." F. Stuart Richardson " 114 + "Twilight." Hume Nisbet " 115 + "Le Dent du Géant." E. T. Compton " 116, 117 + Landscape. A. M. Lindstrom " 119 + Volendam. C. J. Watson " 123 + "Old Woman and Grandchild." Hugh Cameron " 125 + "An Arrest." Melton Prior " 127 + "Sunrise in the Severn Valley." M. R. Corbet " 129 + "The Adjutant's Love Story." H. R. Millar " 131 + Illustrations from "_The Blue Poetry Book_." L. Speed " 134, 5, 7 + "Seine Boats." Louis Grier " 138 + "There is the Priory." W. H. Wollen " 139 + From "_Andersen's Fairy Tales_." J. R. Weguelin " 141, 143 + "Two's company, three's none." H. J. Walker " 147 + Illustration from "_Black and White_." C. G. Manton " 149 + "A Sunny Land." George Wetherbee " 150 + Decorative Design. The late Randolph Caldecott " 151 + Sketch in wash (part of picture) from "_Sketch_ " 155 + "The Brook." Arnold Helcké " 157 + From a Photograph from Life. By Mr. H. S. + Mendelssohn ("_Sketch_") " 161 + From a Photograph from Life. By Messrs. + Cameron & Smith ("_Studio_") " 165 + From a Photograph from Life ("_Graphic_") (_Wood_) 169 + "Proud Maisie." Lancelot Speed (_Process_) 173 + From "_Pablo de Segovia_." Daniel Vierge " 177 + Drinking Horn from "_Eric Bright Eyes_." L. Speed " 181 + Heading from "_Grimm's Household Stories_." W. Crane (_Wood_) 182 + Photograph from Life. "_The Century Magazine_" " 187 + "Driving Home the Pigs." John Pedder (_Process_) 193 + Joan of Arc's House at Rouen. Samuel Prout (_Wood_) 195 + Heading from "_Grimm's Household Stories_." W. Crane " 197 + Decorative Page. A. J. Gaskin (_Process_) 199 + Decorative Page from "_The Six Swans_." W. Crane (_Wood_) 201 + Title Page of "_The Hobby Horse_." Selwyn Image " 205 + Viking Ship from "_Eric Bright Eyes_." L. Speed (_Process_) 208 + "Scarlet Poppies." W. J. Muckley " 209 + "Take Care." W. B. Baird " 222 + Spanish Woman. Ina Bidder " 225 + Children Reading. Estelle d'Avigdor " 227 + Sketch from Life. G. C. Marks " 229 + Bough of Common Furze. William French " 231 + + + + + [Illustration] + +CHAPTER I. + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +There are, broadly speaking, two kinds of engraving for illustration in +books, which are widely distinct--1. _intaglio_; 2. _relievo_. The first +comprises all engravings, etchings, and photogravures in which the lines +are cut or indented by acid or other means, into a steel or copper +plate--a system employed, with many variations of method, from the time +of Mantegna, Albert Dürer, Holbein and Rembrandt, to the French and +English etchers of the present day. Engravings thus produced are little +used in modern book illustration, as they cannot be printed easily on +the same page as the letterpress; these _planches à part_, as the French +term them, are costly to print and are suitable only for limited +editions. + +In the second, or ordinary form of illustration, the lines or pictures +to be printed are left in relief; the design being generally made on +wood with a pencil, and the parts not drawn upon cut away. This was the +rudimentary and almost universal form of book-illustration, as practised +in the fifteenth century, as revived in England by Bewick in the +eighteenth, and continued to the present day. The blocks thus prepared +can be printed rapidly on ordinary printing-presses, and on _the same +page as the text_. + +During the past few years so many processes have been put forward for +producing drawings in relief, for printing with the type, that it has +become a business in itself to test and understand them. The best known +process is still wood engraving, at least it is the best for the +fac-simile reproduction of drawings, as at present understood in +England, whether they be drawn direct upon the wood or transmitted by +photography. There is no process in relief which has the same certainty, +which gives the same colour and brightness, and by which gradation of +tone can be more truly rendered. + +As to the relative value of the different photographic relief processes, +that can only be decided by experts. Speaking generally, I may say that +there are six or seven now in use, each of which is, I am informed, the +best, and all of which are adapted for printing in the same manner as a +wood-block.[1] Improvements in these processes are being made so rapidly +that what was best yesterday will not be the best to-morrow, and it is a +subject which is still little understood. + +In the present book it is proposed to speak principally of the more +popular form of illustration (_relievo_); but the changes which are +taking place in all forms of engraving and illustration render it +necessary to say a few words first upon _intaglio_. We have heard much +of the "painter-etchers," and of the claims of the etchers to +recognition as original artists; and at the annual exhibition of the +Society of Painter-Etchers in London, we have seen examples in which the +effects produced in black and white seemed more allied to the painter's +art than to the engraver's. But we are considering engraving as a means +of interpreting the work of others, rather than as an original art. + +The influence of photography is felt in nearly every department of +illustration. The new photo-mechanical methods of engraving, _without +the aid of the engraver_, have rendered drawing for fac-simile +reproduction of more importance than ever; and the wonderful invention +called _photogravure_, in which an engraving is made direct from an oil +painting, is almost superseding handwork.[2] + + [Illustration: No. II. + + "_Ashes of Roses_," by G. H. BOUGHTON, A.R.A. + + This careful drawing, from the painting by Mr. Boughton, in the Royal + Academy, reproduced by the Dawson process, is interesting for variety + of treatment and indication of textures in pen and ink. It is like the + picture, but it has also the individuality of the draughtsman, as in + line engraving. + + Size of drawing about 6-1/2 x 3-1/2 in.] + + [Illustration: "BADMINTON IN THE STUDIO." (FROM THE PAINTING BY R. W. + MACBETH, A.R.A.) + + (_Royal Academy, 1891._)] + +The art of line-engraving is disappearing in England, giving way to the +"painter-etchers," the "dry-point" etchers and the "mezzotint +engravers," and, finally, to _photogravure_, a method of engraving which +is so extraordinary, and so little understood (although it has been in +constant use for more than ten years), that it may be worth while to +explain, in a few words, the method as practised by Messrs. Boussod, +Valadon & Co., successors to Goupil, of Paris. + +In the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1882, Sir Frederick Leighton's +picture called "Wedded" will be remembered by many visitors. This +picture was purchased for Australia, and had to be sent from England +within a few weeks of the closing of the exhibition. There was no time +to make an engraving, or even an etching satisfactorily, and so the +picture was sent to Messrs. Goupil, who in a few weeks produced the +_photogravure_, as it is called, which we see in the printsellers' +windows to this day. The operation is roughly as follows:--First, a +photograph is taken direct from the picture; then a carbon print is +taken from the negative upon glass, which rests upon the surface in +delicate relief. From this print a cast is taken in reverse in copper, +by placing the glass in a galvanic bath, the deposit of copper upon the +glass taking the impression of the picture as certainly as snow takes +the pattern of the ground upon which it falls. Thus--omitting details, +and certain "secrets" of the process--it may be seen how modern science +has superseded much of the engraver's work, and how a mechanical process +can produce in a few days that which formerly took years. + +What the permanent art-estimate of "photo-engraving" may be, as a +substitute for hand-work, is a question for the collectors of engravings +and etchings. In the meantime, it is well that the public should know +what a _photogravure_ is, as distinct from an engraving. The system of +mechanical engraving, in the reproduction of pictures, is spreading +rapidly over the world; but it should be observed that these +reproductions are not uniformly successful. One painter's method of +handling lends itself more readily than that of another to mechanical +engraving. Thus the work of the President of the Royal Academy would +reproduce better than that of Mr. G. F. Watts or Mr. Orchardson. That +the actual marks of the brush, the very texture of the painting, can be +transferred to copper and steel, and multiplied _ad infinitum_ by this +beautiful process, is a fact to which many English artists are keenly +alive. The process has its limits, of course, and _photogravure_ has at +present to be assisted to a considerable extent by the engraver. But +enough has been done in the last few years to prove that photography +will henceforth take up the painter's handiwork as he leaves it, and +thus the importance of thoroughness and completeness on the part of the +painter has to be more than ever insisted upon by the publishers of +"engravings." + +A word may be useful here to explain that the coloured "photogravures," +reproducing the washes of colour in a painting or water-colour drawing, +of which we see so many in Paris, are not coloured by hand in the +ordinary way, but are produced complete, at one impression, from the +printing-press. The colours are laid upon the plate, one by one, by the +printer, by a system of stencilling; and thus an almost perfect +fac-simile of a picture can be reproduced in pure colour, if the +original is simple and broad in treatment. + + [Illustration: No. III. + + "_A Son of Pan_," by WILLIAM PADGETT. + + Example of outline drawing, put in solidly with a brush. If this had + been done with pencil or autographic chalk, much of the feeling and + expression of the original would have been lost. The drawing has + suffered slightly in reproduction, where (as in the shadows on the + neck and hands) the lines were pale in the original. + + Size of drawing 11-1/2 × 6-1/2 in. Zinc process.] + + [Illustration: "HOME BY THE FERRY." (FROM THE PAINTING BY EDWARD + STOTT.) + + (_Royal Academy, 1891._)] + +One other point of interest and importance to collectors of engravings +and etchings should be mentioned. Within the last few years, an +invention for coating the surface of engraved plates with a film of +steel (which can be renewed as often as necessary) renders the surface +practically indestructible; and it is now possible to print a thousand +impressions from a copper plate without injury or loss of quality. These +modern inventions are no secrets, they have been described repeatedly in +technical journals and in lectures, notably in those delivered during +the past few years at the Society of Arts, and published in the +_Journal_. But the majority of the public, and even many collectors of +prints and etchings, are ignorant of the number of copies which can now +be taken without deterioration from one plate. + +It is necessary to the art amateur that he should know something of +these things, if only to explain why it is that scratching on a copper +plate has come so much into vogue in England lately, and why there has +been such a remarkable revival of the art of Dürer at the end of this +century. The reason for the movement will be better understood when it +is explained that by the process just referred to, of "steeling" the +surface of plates, the "burr," as it is called, and the most delicate +lines of the engraver are preserved intact for a much larger number of +impressions than formerly. The taste for etchings and the higher forms +of the reproductive arts is still spreading rapidly, but the fact +remains that etchings and _éditions de luxe_ do not reach one person in +a thousand in any civilised community. It is only by means of wood +engravings, and the cheaper and simpler forms of process illustration, +that the public is appealed to pictorially through the press. + + [Illustration: LINE PROCESS BLOCK.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] All the illustrations in this book are produced by mechanical + processes excepting those marked in the List of Illustrations; and + all are printed simultaneously with the letterpress. For description + of processes, see _Appendix_. + + [2] One of the last and best examples of pure line-engraving was by + M. Joubert, from a painting by E. J. Poynter, R.A., called + "Atalanta's Race," exhibited in the Royal Academy, 1876. The + engraving of this picture was nearly three years in M. Joubert's + hands--a tardy process in these days. + + + + + [Illustration: "GREETING." (BY THE HON. MRS. BOYLE.)] + +CHAPTER II. + +ELEMENTARY ILLUSTRATION. + + +The first object of an illustration, the practical part, is obviously, +_to illustrate and elucidate the text_--a matter often lost sight of. +The second is to be artistic, and includes works of the imagination, +decoration, ornament, style. In this chapter we shall consider the +first, the practical part. + +Nearly twenty years ago, at a meeting of the Society of Arts in London, +the general question was discussed, whether in the matter of +illustrating books and newspapers we are really keeping pace with the +times; whether those whose business it is to provide the illustrations +which are tossed from steam presses at the rate of several thousand +copies an hour, are doing the best work they can. + +In illustrated newspapers, it was argued, "there should be a clearer +distinction between fact and fiction, between news and pictures." The +exact words may be thought worth repeating now.[3] + + "In the production of illustrations we have arrived at great + proficiency, and from London are issued the best illustrated + newspapers in the world. But our artistic skill has led us into + temptation, and by degrees engendered a habit of making pictures when + we ought to be recording facts. We have thus, through our cleverness, + created a fashion and a demand from the public for something which is + often elaborately untrue. + + Would it, then, be too much to ask those who cater for (and really + create) the public taste, that they should give us one of two things, + or rather _two things_, in our illustrated papers, the real and the + ideal-- + + 1st. Pictorial records of events in the simplest and truest manner + possible; + + 2nd. Pictures of the highest class that can be printed in a newspaper? + + Here are two methods of illustration which only require to be kept + distinct, each in its proper place, and our interest in them would be + doubled. We ask first for a record of news and then for a picture + gallery; and to know, to use a common phrase, _which is which_." + +At the time referred to, drawing on the wood-block and engraving were +almost universal--instantaneous photography was in its infancy, "process +blocks," that is to say, mechanical engraving, was very seldom employed, +and (for popular purposes) American engraving and printing was +considered the best. + +The system of producing illustrations in direct fac-simile of an artist's +drawing, suitable for printing at a type press without the aid of the +wood engraver, is of such value for cheap and simple forms of +illustration, and is, moreover, in such constant use, that it seems +wonderful at first sight that it should not be better understood in +England. But the cause is not far to seek. We have not yet acquired the +art of pictorial expression in black and white, nor do many of our +artists excel in "illustration" in the true sense of the word. + +It has often been pointed out that through the pictorial system the mind +receives impressions with the least effort and in the quickest way, and +that the graphic method is the true way of imparting knowledge. Are we +then, in the matter of giving information or in imparting knowledge +through the medium of illustrations, adopting the truest and simplest +methods? I venture to say that in the majority of cases we are doing +nothing of the kind. We have pictures in abundance which delight the +eye, which are artistically drawn and skilfully engraved, but in which, +in nine cases out of ten, there is more thought given to effect as a +picture than to illustrating the text. + +It has often been suggested that the art of printing is, after all, but +a questionable blessing on account of the error and the evil +disseminated by it. Without going into that question, I think that we +may find that the art of printing with movable type has led to some +neglect of the art of expressing ourselves pictorially, and that the +apparently inexorable necessity of running every word and thought into +uniform lines, has cramped and limited our powers of expression, and of +communicating ideas to each other. + +Let us begin at the lowest step of the artistic ladder, and consider +some forms of illustration which are within the reach of nearly every +writer for the press. With the means now at command for reproducing any +lines drawn or written, in perfect fac-simile, mounted on square blocks +to range with the type, and giving little or no trouble to the printer, +there is no question that we should more frequently see the hand work of +the writer as well as of the artist appearing on the page. For example: +it happens sometimes in a work of fiction, or in the record of some +accident or event, that it is important to the clear understanding of +the text, to know the exact position of a house, say at a street corner, +and also (as in the case of a late trial for arson) which way the wind +blew on a particular evening. Words are powerless to explain the +position beyond the possibility of doubt or misconstruction; and yet +words are, and have been, used for such purposes for hundreds of years, +because it is "the custom." + + [Illustration] + +But if it were made plain that where words fail to express a meaning +easily, a few lines, such as those above, drawn in ink on ordinary +paper, may be substituted (and, if sent to the printer with the +manuscript, will appear in fac-simile on the proof with the printed +page), I think a new light may dawn on many minds, and new methods of +expression come into vogue. + +This illustration (which was written on the sheet of MS.) is one +example, out of a hundred that might be given, where a diagram should +come to the aid of the verbal description, now that the reproduction of +lines for the press is no longer costly, and the blocks can be printed, +if necessary, on rapidly revolving cylinders, which (by duplicating) can +produce in a night 100,000 copies of a newspaper. + +Before exploring some of the possibilities of illustration, it may be +interesting to glance at what has been done in this direction since the +invention of producing blocks rapidly to print at the type press and the +improvements in machinery. + +In the spring of 1873 a Canadian company started a daily illustrated +evening newspaper in New York, called _The Daily Graphic_, which was to +eclipse all previous publications by the rapidity and excellence of its +illustrations. It started with an attempt to give a daily record of +news, and its conductors made every effort to bring about a system of +rapid sketching and drawing in line. But the public of New York in 1873 +(as of London, apparently, in 1893) cared more for "pictures," and so by +degrees the paper degenerated into a picture-sheet, reproducing (without +leave) engravings from the _Illustrated London News_, the _Graphic_, +and other papers, as they arrived from England. The paper was +lithographed, and survived until 1889. + +The report of the first year's working of the first daily illustrated +newspaper in the world is worth recording. The proprietors stated that +although the paper was started "in a year of great financial depression, +they have abundant reason to be satisfied with their success," and +further, that they attribute it to "an absence of all sensational +news."(!) + +The report ended with the following interesting paragraph: + + "Pictorial records of crime, executions, scenes involving misery, and + the more unwholesome phases of social life, are a positive detriment + to a daily illustrated newspaper. In fact, the higher the tone and the + better the taste appealed to, the larger we have found our circulation + to be." + +The great art, it would seem, of conducting a daily illustrated +newspaper is to know _what to leave out_--when, in fact, to have no +illustrations at all! + +In England the first systematic attempt at illustration in a daily +newspaper was the insertion of a little map or weather chart in the +_Times_ in 1875, and the _Pall Mall Gazette_ followed suit with a dial +showing the direction of the wind, and afterwards with other explanatory +diagrams and sketches. + +But, in June, 1875, the _Times_ and all other newspapers in England were +far distanced by the _New York Tribune_ in reporting the result of a +shooting match in Dublin between an American Rifle Corps and some of our +volunteers. On the morning after the contest there were long verbal +reports in the English papers, describing the shooting and the results; +but in the pages of the _New York Tribune_ there appeared a series of +targets with the shots of the successful competitors marked upon them, +communicated by telegraph and printed in the paper in America on the +following morning.[4] + +After this period we seem to have moved slowly, only some very important +geographical discovery, or event, extorting from the daily newspapers an +explanatory plan or diagram. But during the "Transit of Venus," on the +6th of December, 1882, a gleam of light was vouchsafed to the readers of +the _Daily Telegraph_ (and possibly to other papers), and that exciting +astronomical event from which "mankind was to obtain a clearer +knowledge of the scale of the universe," was understood and remembered +better, by three or four lines in the form of a diagram (showing, +roughly, the track of Venus and its comparative size and distance from +the sun) printed in the newspaper on the day of the event. + +Maps and plans have appeared from time to time in all the daily +newspapers, but not systematically, or their interest and usefulness +would have been much greater. Many instances might be given of the use +of diagrams in newspapers; a little dial showing the direction of the +wind, is obviously better than words and figures, but it is only lately +that printing difficulties have been overcome, and that the system can +be widely extended. + +It remains to be seen how far the _Daily Graphic_, with experience and +capital at command, will aid in a system of illustration which is one +day to become general. Thus far it would seem that the production of a +large number of pictures (more or less _à-propos_) is the popular thing +to do. We may be excused if we are disappointed in the result from a +practical point of view; for as the functions of a daily newspaper are +_primâ facie_ to record facts, it follows that if words fail to +communicate the right meaning, pictorial expression should come to the +aid of the verbal, no matter how crude or inartistic the result might +appear. + +Let me give one or two examples, out of many which come to mind. + +1. The transmission of form by telegraph. To realise the importance of +this system in conveying news, we have only to consider (going back +nearly forty years) what interest would have been added to Dr. Russell's +letters from the Crimea in the _Times_ newspaper, if it had been +considered possible, then, to have inserted, here and there, with the +type, a line or two pictorially giving (_e.g._) the outline of a +hillside, and the position of troops upon it. It _was_ possible to do +this in 1855, but it is much more feasible now. The transmission of form +by telegraph is of the utmost importance to journalists and scientific +men, and, as our electricians have not yet determined the best methods, +it may be interesting to point out the simplest and most rudimentary +means at hand. The method is well known in the army and is used for +field purposes, but hitherto newspapers have been strangely slow to +avail themselves of it. The diagram on the opposite page will explain a +system which is capable of much development with and without the aid of +photography. + +If the reader will imagine this series of squares to represent a +portable piece of open trellis-work, which might be set up at a window +or in the open field, between the spectator and any object of interest +at a distance--each square representing a number corresponding with a +code in universal use--it will be obvious, that by noticing the squares +which the outline of a hill would cover, and _telegraphing the numbers +of the squares_, something in the way of form and outline may be quickly +communicated from the other side of the world. + + [Illustration: CODE FOR TRANSMITTING FORM BY TELEGRAPH.] + +This is for rough-and-ready use in time of war, when rapidity of +communication is of the first importance; but in time of peace a +correspondent's letter continually requires elucidation. + +Next is an example, which, for want of better words, I will call "the +shorthand of pictorial art." A newspaper correspondent is in a boat on +one of the Italian lakes, and wishes to describe the scene on a calm +summer day. This is how he proceeds-- + + [Illustration] + +"We are shut in by mountains," he says, "but the blue lake seems as wide +as the sea. On a rocky promontory on the left hand the trees grow down +to the water's edge and the banks are precipitous, indicating the great +depth of this part of the lake. The water is as smooth as glass; on its +surface is one vessel, a heavily-laden market boat with drooping sails, +floating slowly down" (and so on)--there is no need to repeat it all; +but when half a column of word-painting had been written (and +well-written) the correspondent failed to present the picture clearly to +the eye without these _four_ explanatory lines (no more) which should +of course have been sent with his letter. + +This method of description requires certain aptitude and training; but +not much, not more than many a journalist could acquire for himself with +a little practice. The director of the _Daily Graphic_ is reported to +have said that "the ideal correspondent, who can sketch as well as +write, is not yet born." He takes perhaps a higher view of the artistic +functions of a daily newspaper than we should be disposed to grant him; +by "we" I mean, of course, "the public," expecting _news_ in the most +graphic manner. There are, and will be, many moments when we want +information, simply and solely, and care little how, or in what shape, +it comes. + +This kind of information, given pictorially, has no pretension to be +artistic, but it is "illustration" in the true sense of the word, and +its value when rightly applied is great. When the alterations at Hyde +Park Corner (one of the most important of the London improvements of our +day) were first debated in Parliament, a daily newspaper, as if moved by +some sudden flash of intelligence, printed a ground-plan of the proposed +alterations with descriptive text; and once or twice only, during +Stanley's long absence in Africa, did we have sketches or plans printed +with the letters to elucidate the text, such as a sketch of the floating +islands with their weird inhabitants, at Stanley's Station on the Congo +river, which appeared in a daily newspaper--instances of news presented +to the reader in a better form than words. "The very thing that was +wanted!" was the general exclamation, as if there were some new +discovery of the powers of description. + +As the war correspondent's occupation does not appear likely to cease in +our time, it would seem worth while to make sure that he is fully +equipped. + +The method of writing employed by correspondents on the field of battle +seems unnecessarily clumsy and prolix; we hear of letters written +actually under fire, on a drum-head, or in the saddle, and on opening +the packet as it arrives by the post we may find, if we take the trouble +to measure it, that the point of the pen or pencil, has travelled over a +distance of a hundred feet! This is the actual ascertained measurement, +taking into account all the ups and downs, crosses and dashes, as it +arrives from abroad. No wonder the typewriter is resorted to in +journalism wherever possible. + +A newspaper correspondent is sent suddenly to the seat of war, or is +stationed in some remote country to give the readers of a newspaper the +benefit of his observations. What is he doing in 1894? In the imperfect, +clumsy language which he possesses in common with every minister of +state and public schoolboy, he proceeds to describe what he sees in a +hundred lines, when with two or three strokes of the pen he might have +expressed his meaning better pictorially. I have used these words +before, but they apply with redoubled force at the present time. The +fact is, that with the means now at command for reproducing any lines +drawn or written, the correspondent is not thoroughly equipped if he +cannot send them as suggested, by telegraph or by letter. It is all a +matter of education, and the newspaper reporter of the future will not +be considered complete unless he is able to express himself, to some +extent, pictorially as well as verbally. Then, and not till then, will +our complicated language be rescued from many obscurities, by the aid of +lines other than verbal.[5] + +In nearly every city, town, or place there is some feature, +architectural or natural, which gives character to it, and it would add +greatly to the interest of letters from abroad if they were headed with +a little outline sketch, or indication of the principal objects. This is +seldom done, because the art of looking at things, and the power of +putting them down simply in a few lines, has not been cultivated and is +not given to many. + +Two things are principally necessary to attain this end-- + + [Illustration: A STUDY IN PERSPECTIVE. (HUME NISBET.) + + A. Standpoint. B. Point of Sight. C. Horizontal line. D. Vanishing + lines. E. Point of distance. F. Vanishing lines of distance. G. Line + of sight.] + +1. The education of hand and eye and a knowledge of perspective, to be +imparted to every schoolboy, no matter what his profession or occupation +is likely to be. + +2. The education of the public to read aright this new language (new to +most people), the "shorthand of pictorial art." + +The popular theory amongst editors and publishers is that the public +would not care for information presented to them in this way--that they +"would not understand it and would not buy it." Sketches of the kind +indicated have never been fairly tried in England; but they are +increasing in number every day, and the time is not far distant when we +shall look back upon the present system with considerable amusement and +on a book or a newspaper which is not illustrated as an incomplete +production. The number of illustrations produced and consumed daily in +the printing press is enormous; but they are too much of one pattern, +and, as a rule, too elaborate. + +In the illustration of books of all kinds there should be a more general +use of diagrams and plans to elucidate the text. No new building of +importance should be described anywhere without an indication of the +elevation, if not also of the ground plan; and, as a rule, no picture +should be described without a sketch to indicate the composition. In +history words so often fail to give the correct _locale_ that it seems +wonderful we have no better method in common use. The following rough +plan will illustrate one of the simplest ways of making a description +clear to the reader. Take the verbal one first:-- + +"The young Bretonne stood under the doorway of the house, sheltered from +the rain which came with the soft west wind. From her point of vantage +on the 'Place' she commanded a view of the whole village, and could see +down the four streets of which it was principally composed." + + [Illustration] + +In this instance a writer was at some pains to describe (and failed to +describe in three pages) the exact position of the streets near where +the girl stood; and it was a situation in which photography could hardly +help him. + +It may seem strange at first sight to occupy the pages of a book on art +with diagrams and elementary outlines, but it must be remembered that +plans and diagrams are at the basis of a system of illustration which +will one day become general. The reason, as already pointed out, for +drawing attention to the subject now, is that it is only lately that +systems have been perfected for reproducing lines on the printed page +almost as rapidly as setting up the type. Thus a new era, so to speak, +in the art of expressing ourselves pictorially as well as verbally has +commenced: the means of reproduction are to hand; the blocks can be +made, if necessary, in less than three hours, and copies can be printed +on revolving cylinders at the rate of 10,000 an hour. + +The advance in scientific discovery by means of subtle instruments +brings the surgeon sometimes to the knowledge of facts which, in the +interests of science, he requires to demonstrate graphically, objects +which it would often be impossible to have photographed. With a +rudimentary knowledge of drawing and perspective, the surgeon and the +astronomer would both be better equipped. At the University of +Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, where the majority of students are +intended for the medical profession, this subject is considered of high +importance, and the student in America is learning to express himself in +a language that can be understood. + +In architecture it is often necessary, in order to understand the +description of a building, to indicate in a few lines not only the +general plan and elevation, but also its position in perspective in a +landscape or street. Few architects can do this if called upon at a +moment's notice in a Parliamentary committee room. And yet it is a +necessary part of the language of an architect.[6] + +These remarks apply with great force to books of travel, where an author +should be able to take part in the drawing of his illustrations, at +least to the extent of being able to explain his meaning and ensure +topographical accuracy. + +A curious experiment was made lately with some students in an Art +school, to prove the fallacy of the accepted system of describing +landscapes, buildings, and the like in words. A page or two from one of +the Waverley novels (a description of a castle and the heights of +mountainous land, with a river winding in the valley towards the sea, +and clusters of houses and trees on the right hand) was read slowly and +repeated before a number of students, three of whom, standing apart from +each other by pre-arrangement, proceeded to indicate on blackboards +before an audience the leading lines of the picture as the words had +presented it to their minds. It is needless to say that the results, +highly skilful in one case, were all different, and _all wrong_; and +that in particular the horizon line of the sea (so easy to indicate with +any clue, and so important to the composition) was hopelessly out of +place. Thus we describe day by day, and the pictures formed in the mind +are erroneous, for the imagination of the reader is at work at once, and +requires simple guidance. The exhibition was, I need hardly say, highly +stimulating and suggestive. + +Many arguments might be used for the substitution of pictorial for +verbal methods of expression, which apply to books as well as +periodicals. Two may be mentioned of a purely topical kind. + +1. In June, 1893, when the strife of political parties ran high in +England, and anything like a _rapprochement_ between their leaders +seemed impossible, Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Balfour were seen in apparently +friendly conversation behind the Speaker's chair in the House of +Commons. A newspaper reporter in one of the galleries, observing the +interesting situation, does not say in so many words, that "Mr. G. was +seen talking to Mr. B.," but makes, or has made for him, a sketch +(without caricature) of the two figures standing talking together, and +writes under it, "_Amenities behind the Speaker's chair_." Here it will +be seen that the subject is approached with more delicacy, and the +position indicated with greater force through the pictorial method. + +2. The second modern instance of the power--the eloquence, so to speak, +of the pictorial method--appeared in the pages of _Punch_ on the +occasion of the visit of the Russian sailors to Paris in October, 1893. +A rollicking, dancing Russian bear, with the words "_Vive la République_" +wound round his head, hit the situation as no words could have done, +especially when exposed for sale in the kiosques of the Paris +boulevards. The picture required no translation into the languages of +Europe. + +It may be said that there is nothing new here--that the political +cartoon is everywhere--that it has existed always, that it flourished in +Athens and Rome, that all history teems with it, that it comes down to +us on English soil through Gillray, Rowlandson, Hogarth, Blake, and many +distinguished names. I draw attention to these things because the town +is laden with newspapers and illustrated sheets. The tendency of the +time seems to be to read less and less, and to depend more upon +pictorial records of events. There are underlying reasons for this on +which we must not dwell; the point of importance to illustrators is the +fact that there is an insatiable demand for "pictures" which tell us +something quickly and accurately, in a language which every nation can +understand. + +Another example of the use of pictorial expression to aid the verbal. A +traveller in the Harz Mountains finds himself on the Zeigenkop, near +Blankenberg, on a clear summer's day, and thus describes it in words:-- + + "We are now on the heights above Blankenberg, a promontory 1,360 feet + above the plains, with an almost uninterrupted view of distant country + looking northward and eastward. The plateau of mountains on which we + have been travelling here ends abruptly. It is the end of the upper + world, but the plains seem illimitable. There is nothing between us + and our homes in Berlin--nothing to impede the view which it is almost + impossible to describe in words. The setting sun has pierced the veil + of mist, and a map of Northern Germany seems unrolled before us, + distant cities coming into view one by one. First, we see Halberstadt + with its spires, then Magdeburg, then another city, and another. + + "We have been so occupied with the distant prospect, and with the + objects of interest which give character to it, that we had almost + overlooked the charming composition and suggestive lines of this + wonderful view. There is an ancient castle on the heights, the town of + Blankenberg at our feet, a strange wall of perpendicular rocks in the + middle distance; there are the curves of the valleys, flat pastures, + undulating woods, and roads winding away across the plains. The + central point of interest is the church spire with its cluster of + houses spreading upwards towards the château, with its massive + terraces fringed with trees, &c., &c." + + + +This was all very well in word-painting, but what a veil is lifted from +the reader's eyes by some such sketch as the one below. + + [Illustration: VIEW ABOVE BLANKENBERG, HARZ MOUNTAINS.] + +It should be mentioned that three photographic prints joined together +would hardly have given the picture, owing to the vast extent of this +inland view, and the varying atmospheric effects. + +The last instance I can give here is an engraving from _Cassell's +Popular Educator_, where a picture is used to demonstrate the curvature +of the world's surface; thus imprinting, for once, and for always, on +the young reader's mind a fact which words fail to describe adequately. + + [Illustration: THE CURVATURE OF THE WORLDS SURFACE.] + +This is "The Art of Illustration" in the true sense of the word. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [3] The quotations are from a paper by the present writer, read + before the Society of Arts in March, 1875. + + [4] This system of reporting rifle contests is now almost universal + in England. + + [5] It seems strange that enterprising newspapers, with capital at + command, such as the _New York Herald_, _Daily Telegraph_, and _Pall + Mall Gazette_, should not have developed so obvious a method of + transmitting information. The _Pall Mall Gazette_ has been the most + active in this direction, but might do much more. + + [6] It has been well said that if a building can be described in + words, it is not worth describing at all! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ARTISTIC ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +In referring now to more artistic illustrations, we should notice first, +some of the changes which have taken place (since the meeting referred +to in the last chapter), and, bridging over a distance of nearly twenty +years, consider the work of the illustrator, the photographer, and the +maker of process blocks, as presented in books and newspapers in 1894; +speaking principally of topical illustrations, on which so many thousand +people are now engaged. + +It may seem strange at first sight to include "newspapers" in a chapter +on art illustrations, but the fact is that the weekly newspapers, with +their new appliances for printing, and in consequence of the cheapness +of good paper, are now competing with books and magazines in the +production of illustrations which a few years ago were only to be found +in books. The illustrated newspaper is one of the great employers of +labour in this field and distributor of the work of the artist in black +and white, and in this connection must by no means be ignored. The +Post-office carries a volume of 164 pages (each 22 by 16 inches), +weighing from two to three pounds, for a half-penny. It is called a +"weekly newspaper," but it contains, sometimes, 100 illustrations, and +competes seriously with the production of illustrated books. + +Further on we shall see how the illustrations of one number of a weekly +newspaper are produced--what part the original artist has in it, what +part the engraver and the photographer. These are things with which all +students should be acquainted. + +The first stage of illustration, where little more than a plan or +elevation of a building is aimed at (as suggested in the last chapter), +and where an author, with little artistic knowledge, is yet enabled to +explain himself, is comparatively easy; it is when we approach the +hazardous domain of art that the real difficulties begin. + +As matters stand at present, it is scarcely too much to say that the +majority of art students and the younger school of draughtsmen in this +country are "all abroad" in the matter of drawing for the press, +lacking, not industry, not capacity, but method. That they do good work +in abundance is not denied, but it is not exactly the kind of work +required--in short, they are not taught at the outset the _value of a +line_. That greater skill and certainty of drawing can be attained by +our younger draughtsmen is unquestionable, and, bearing in mind that +_nearly every book and newspaper in the future will be illustrated_, the +importance of study in this direction is much greater than may appear at +first sight. + + [Illustration: No. IV. + + "_Tiresome Dog_," by E. K. JOHNSON. + + This example of pen-and-ink work has been reproduced by the gelatine + relief process. The drawing, which has been greatly reduced in + reproduction, was made by Mr. Johnson for an Illustrated Catalogue of + the Royal Water-Colour Society, of which he is a member. + + It is instructive as showing the possibilities and limitations of + relief process-work in good hands. The gradation of tone is all + obtained in pure black, or dotted lines. Mr. Dawson has aided the + effect by "rouletting" on the block on the more delicate parts; but + most of the examples in this book are untouched by the engraver. + + (_See Appendix._)] + + [Illustration: "FRUSTRATED." (FROM THE PAINTING BY WALTER HUNT.) + + (_Royal Academy_, 1891.)] + +Referring to the evident want of training amongst our younger +draughtsmen, the question was put very bluntly in the _Athenæum_ some +years ago, thus:-- + + Why is not drawing in line with pen and ink taught in our own + Government schools of art? The present system in schools seems to + render the art of drawing of as little use to the student as possible, + for he has no sooner mastered the preliminary stage of drawing in + outline from the flat with a lead pencil, than he has chalk put into + his hand, a material which he will seldom or never use in turning his + knowledge of drawing to practical account. The readier method of pen + and ink would be of great service as a preparatory stage to wood + drawing, but unfortunately drawing is taught in most cases as though + the student intended only to become a painter. + +Since these lines were written, efforts have been made in some schools +of art to give special training for illustrators, and instruction is +also given in wood engraving, which every draughtsman should learn; but +up to the present time there has been no systematic teaching in drawing +applicable to the various processes, for the reason that _the majority +of art masters do not understand them_. + + [Illustration: "ON THE RIVIERA." (ELLEN MONTALBA.)] + +The art of expression in line, or of expressing the effect of a picture +or a landscape from Nature in a few leading lines (not necessarily +outline) is little understood in this country; and if such study, as the +_Athenæum_ pointed out, is important for the wood draughtsman, how much +more so in drawing for reproduction by photo-mechanical means? A few +artists have the gift of expressing themselves in line, but the majority +are strangely ignorant of the principles of this art and of the simple +fac-simile processes by which drawing can now be reproduced. In the +course of twenty years of editing the _Academy Notes_, some strange +facts have come to the writer's notice as to the powerlessness of some +painters to express the _motif_ of a picture in a few lines; also as to +how far we are behind our continental neighbours in this respect. + + [Illustration: "A LIGHT OF LAUGHING FLOWERS ALONG THE GRASS IS + SPREAD." (M. RIDLEY CORBET.)] + + [Illustration: No. V. + + H. S. MARKS. + + An example of line drawing and "the art of leaving out," by the + well-known Royal Academician. + + Mr. Marks and Sir John Gilbert (_see frontispiece_) were the first + painters to explain the composition and leading lines of their + pictures in the _Academy Notes_ in 1876. Mr. Marks suggests light and + shade and the character of his picture in a few skilful lines. Sir + John Gilbert's pen-and-ink drawing is also full of force and + individuality. These drawings reproduce well by any of the processes.] + + [Illustration: "A SELECT COMMITTEE." (FROM THE PAINTING BY H. S. + MARKS, R.A.) + + (_Royal Academy, 1891._)] + +It is interesting to note here the firmness of line and clearness of +reproduction by the common process block; the result being more +satisfactory than many drawings by professional illustrators. The reason +is not far to seek; the painter knows his picture and how to give the +effect of it in black and white, in a few lines; and, in the case of Mr. +Corbet and Miss Montalba, they have made themselves acquainted with the +best way of drawing for the Press. There are many other methods than +pen-and-ink which draughtsmen use,--pencil, chalk, wash, grained paper, +&c, but first as to line drawing, because _it is the only means by which +certain results can be obtained_, and it is the one which, for practical +reasons, should be first mastered. Line drawings are now reproduced on +zinc blocks fitted for the type press at a cost of less than sixpence +the square inch for large blocks; the processes of reproduction will be +explained further on. + +It cannot be sufficiently borne in mind--I am speaking now to students +who are not intimate with the subject--that to produce with pure black +lines the quality and effect of lines in which there is some gradation +of tone, is no easy matter, especially to those accustomed to the wood +engraver as the interpreter of their work. Sir John Tenniel, M. du +Maurier, and Mr. Sambourne, not to mention others on the _Punch_ staff, +have been accustomed to draw for wood engraving, and would probably +still prefer this method to any other. + + [Illustration: "THE ROSE QUEEN." (G. D. LESLIE, R.A.) (_From "Academy + Notes," 1893._)] + +But the young illustrator has to learn the newer methods, and how to get +his effects through direct photo-engraving. What may be done by process +is demonstrated in the line drawings interspersed through these pages, +also in the illustrations which are appearing every day in our +newspapers, magazines, and books--especially those which are well +printed and on good paper. Mr. George Leslie's pretty line drawing from +his picture, on the opposite page, is full of suggestion for +illustrative purposes. + +But let us glance first at the ordinary hand-book teaching, and see how +far it is useful to the illustrator of to-day. The rules laid down as to +the methods of line work, the direction of lines for the expression of +certain textures, "cross-hatching," &c., are, if followed too closely, +apt to lead to hardness and mannerism in the young artist, which he will +with difficulty shake off. On these points, Mr. Robertson, the +well-known painter and etcher, writing seven years ago, says well:-- + + "The mental properties of every line drawn with pen and ink should be + original and personal ... this strong point is sure to be attained + unconsciously, if an artist's work is simple and sincere, and _not the + imitation of another man's style_."[7] + +When the question arises as to what examples a beginner should copy who +wishes to practise the art of pen-and-ink drawing, the difficulty will +be to select from the great and varied stores of material that are +everywhere to his hand. All steel and copper-plate engravings that have +been executed in line, and all wood engravings, are within the possible +range of pen-and-ink drawing. I hold, however, that much time should not +be occupied in the imitatative copying of prints: only, indeed, so much +as enables the student to learn with what arrangement of lines the +different textures and qualities of objects may be best rendered. + +There are, roughly, two methods of obtaining effect with a pen--one by +few lines, laid slowly, and the other by many lines, drawn with +rapidity. If the intention is to see what effect may be obtained with +comparatively few lines deliberately drawn, we may refer to the woodcuts +after Albert Dürer and Holbein, and the line engraving of Marc Antonio. +The engraved plates by Dürer furnish excellent examples of work, with +more and finer lines than his woodcuts [but many of the latter were not +done by his hand]. "Some of the etchings of Rembrandt are examples of +what may be fairly reproduced in pen and ink, but in them we find the +effect to depend upon innumerable lines in all directions. In the matter +of landscape the etched plates by Claude and Ruysdael are good examples +for study, and in animal life the work of Paul Potter and Dujardin." + +Thus, for style, for mastery of effect and management of line, we must +go back to the old masters; to work produced generally in a reposeful +life, to which the younger generation are strangers. But the mere +copying of other men's lines is of little avail without mastering the +principles of the art of line drawing. The skilful copies, the +fac-similes of engravings and etchings drawn in pen and ink, which are +the admiration of the young artist's friends, are of little or no value +in deciding the aptitude of the student. The following words are worth +placing on the walls of every art school:-- + +"Proficiency in copying engravings in fac-simile, far from suggesting +promise of distinction in the profession of art, plainly _marks a +tendency to mechanical pursuits_, and is not likely to be acquired by +anyone with much instinctive feeling for the arts of design." There is +much truth and insight in this remark. + + [Illustration: "THE FINDING OF THE INFANT ST. GEORGE." (CHARLES M. + GERE.) (_From his painting in the New Gallery, 1893._)] + +In line work, as now understood, we are going back, in a measure, to the +point of view of the missal writer and the illuminator, who, with no +thought of the possibilities of reproduction, produced many of his +decorative pages by management of line alone (I refer to the parts of +his work in which the effect was produced by black and white). No amount +of patience, thought, and labour was spared for this one copy. What +would he have said if told that in centuries to come this line work +would be revived in its integrity, with the possibility of the artist's +own lines being reproduced 100,000 times, at the rate of several +thousand an hour. And what would he have thought if told that, out of +thousands of students in centuries to come, a few, a very few only, +could produce a decorative page; and that few could be brought to +realise that a work which was to be repeated, say a thousand times, was +worthy of as much attention as his ancestors gave to a single copy! + +On the principle that "everything worth doing is worth doing well," and +on the assumption that the processes in common use--[I purposely omit +mention here of the older systems of drawing on transfer paper, and +drawing on waxed plates, without the aid of photography, which have been +dealt with in previous books]--are worth all the care and artistic +knowledge which can be bestowed upon them, we would press, upon young +artists especially, the importance of study and experiment in this +direction. As there is no question that "the handwork of the artist" can +be seen more clearly through mechanical engraving than through wood +engraving, it behoves him to do his best. And as we are substituting +process blocks for wood engraving in every direction, so we should take +over some of the patience and care which were formerly given to book +illustrations. + +We cannot live, easily, in the "cloistered silence of the past," but we +can emulate the deliberate and thoughtful work of Mantegna, of Holbein, +of Albert Dürer, and the great men of the past, who, if they were alive +to-day, would undoubtedly have preferred drawing for process to the +labour of etching and engraving; and, if their work were to be +reproduced by others, they would have perceived, what it does not +require much insight in us to realise, that the individuality of the +artist is better preserved, by making his own lines. + +To do this successfully in these days, the artist must give his best and +most deliberate (instead of his hurried and careless) drawings to the +processes; founding his style, to a limited extent it may be, on old +work, but preserving his own individuality. + +But we must not slavishly copy sketches by the old masters, _which were +never intended for reproduction_. We may learn from the study of them +the power of line to express character, action, and effect, we may +learn composition sometimes, but not often from a sketch. + + [Illustration: "A PLOUGHBOY." (G. CLAUSEN.)] + +As to copying the work of living artists, it should be remembered that +the manner and the method of a line drawing is each artist's property, +and the repetition of it by others is injurious to him. It would be an +easy method indeed if the young artist, fresh from the schools, could, +in a few weeks, imitate the mannerism, say of Sir John Gilbert, whose +style is founded upon the labour of 50 years. There is no such royal +road. + + [Illustration: No. VI. + + "_A Ploughboy_," by GEORGE CLAUSEN. + + An excellent example of sketching in line. The original drawing was + 7-3/4 × 5-3/4 in. I have reproduced Mr. Clausen's artistic sketch of + his picture in two sizes in order to compare results. The small block + on page 59 (printed in _Grosvenor Notes_, 1888) appears to be the most + suitable reduction for this drawing. The results are worth comparing + by anyone studying process work. The first block was made by the + gelatine process; the one opposite by the ordinary zinc process. (_See + Appendix._) + +To return to illustration. The education of the illustrator in these +days means much more than mere art training. The tendency of editors of +magazines and newspapers is to employ those who can write as well as +draw. This may not be a very hopeful sign from an art point of view, but +it is a condition of things which we have to face. Much as we may desire +to see a good artist and a good _raconteur_ in one man, the combination +will always be rare; those editors who seek for it are often tempted to +accept inferior art for the sake of the story. I mention this as one of +the influences affecting the quality of illustrations of an ephemeral or +topical kind, which should not be overlooked. + +In sketches of society the education and standing of the artist has much +to do with his success. M. du Maurier's work in _Punch_ may be taken as +an example of what I mean, combining excellent art with knowledge of +society. His clever followers and imitators lack something which cannot +be learned in an art school. + +It should be understood that, in drawing for reproduction by any of the +mechanical processes (either in wash or in line, but especially the +latter), there is more strain on the artist than when his work was +engraved on wood, and the knowledge of this has left drawing for process +principally in the hands of the younger men. They will be older by the +end of the century, but not as old then as some of our best and +experienced illustrators who keep to wood engraving. + + [Illustration: No. VII. + + "_Blowing Bubbles_," by C. E. WILSON. + +This is an excellent example of drawing--and of treatment of textures +and surfaces--for process reproduction. The few pen touches on the +drapery have come out with great fidelity, the double lines marking the +paving stones being the only part giving any trouble to the maker of the +gelatine relief block. The skilful management of the parts in light +shows again "the art of leaving out."] + +I am touching now upon a difficult and delicate part of the subject, +and must endeavour to make my meaning clear. The illustrations in +_Punch_ have, until lately, all been engraved on wood (the elder artists +on the staff not taking kindly to the processes), and the style and +manner of line we see in its pages is due in great measure to the +influence of the wood engraver.[8] + +This refers to fac-simile work, but the engraver, as we know, also +interprets wash into clean lines, helps out the timid and often unsteady +draughtsman, and in little matters puts his drawing right. + +The wood engraver was apprenticed to his art, and after long and +laborious teaching, mastered the mechanical difficulties. If he had the +artistic sense he soon developed into a master-engraver and illustrator, +and from crude and often weak and inartistic drawings produced +illustrations full of tone, quality, and beauty. From very slight +material handed to him by the publisher, the wood engraver would evolve +(from his inner consciousness, so to speak) an elaborate and graceful +series of illustrations, drawn on the wood block by artists in his own +employ, who had special training, and knew exactly how to produce the +effects required. The system often involved much care and research for +details of costume, architecture, and the like, and, if not very high +art, was at least well paid for, and appreciated by the public. I am +speaking of the average illustrated book, say of twenty years ago, when +it was not an uncommon thing to spend £500 or £600 on the engravings. +Let us hope that the highest kind of wood engraving will always find a +home in England. + +Nobody knows--nobody ever will know--how much the engraver has done for +the artist in years past. "For good or evil,"--it may be said; but I am +thinking now only of the good, of occasions when the engraver has had to +interpret the artist's meaning, and sometimes, it must be confessed, to +come to the rescue and perfect imperfect work. + + [Illustration: No. VIII. + + Illustration to "_Dreamland in History_," by Dr. Gloucester. (London: + Isbister & Co.) Drawn by HERBERT RAILTON. + + Example of brilliancy and simplicity of treatment in line drawing for + process. There is no illustration in this book which shows better the + scope and variety of common process work. Mr. Railton has studied his + process, and brought to it a knowledge of architecture and sense of + the picturesque. This illustration is reduced considerably from the + original drawing.] + + The artist who draws for reproduction by chemical and mechanical + means is thrown upon his own resources. He cannot say to the acid, + "Make these lines a little sharper," or to the sun's rays, "Give a + little more light"; and so--as we cannot often have good wood + engraving, as it is not always cheap enough or rapid enough for our + needs--we draw on paper what we want reproduced, and resort to one of + the photographic processes described in this book. + + [Illustration: "BY UNFREQUENTED WAYS." (W. H. GORE.)] + +I do not think the modern illustrator realises how much depends upon him +in taking the place, so to speak, of the wood engraver. The +interpretation of tone into line fitted for the type press, to which +the wood engraver gave a lifetime, will devolve more and more upon him. +We cannot keep this too continually in mind, for in spite of the +limitations in mechanically-produced blocks (as compared with wood +engraving) in obtaining delicate effects of tone in line, much can be +done in which the engraver has no part. + + [Illustration: "THE LOWING HERD WINDS SLOWLY O'ER THE LEA." (W H. + GORE.)] + +I purposely place these two pen-and-ink drawings by Mr. Gore side by +side, to show what delicacy of line and tone may be obtained on a relief +block by proper treatment. One could hardly point to better examples of +pure line. They were drawn on ordinary cardboard (the one above, 4-1/4 × +9-3/4 in.) and reproduced by the gelatine relief process. + +All this, it will be observed, points to a more delicate and +intelligent use of the process block than is generally allowed, to +something, in short very different to the thin sketchy outlines and +scribbles which are considered the proper style for the "pen-and-ink +artist." + +But "the values" are scarcely ever considered in this connection. Mr. +Hamerton makes a curious error in his _Graphic Arts_, where he advocates +the use of the "black blot in pen drawing," arguing that as we use +liberally white paper to express air and various degrees of light, so we +may use masses of solid black to represent many gradations of darkness. +A little reflection will convince anyone that this is no argument at +all. + +Mr. Ruskin's advice in his _Elements of Drawing_, as to how to lay flat +tints by means of pure black lines (although written many years ago, and +before mechanical processes of reproduction were in vogue) is singularly +applicable and useful to the student of to-day; especially where he +reminds him that, "if you cannot gradate well with pure black lines, you +will never do so with pale ones." + +To "gradate well with pure black lines" is, so to speak, the whole art +and mystery of drawing for the photo-zinc process, of which one London +firm alone turns out more than a thousand blocks a week. + +As to the amount of reduction that a drawing will bear in reproduction, +it cannot be sufficiently widely known, that in spite of rules laid +down, there is no rule about it. + + [Illustration: "ADVERSITY." (FRED. HALL.)] + +It is interesting to compare this reproduction with the larger one +overleaf. There is no limit to the experiments which may be made in +reduction, if pursued on scientific principles. + + [Illustration: No. IX. + + "_Adversity_," by FRED. HALL. + + This fine drawing was made in pen and ink by Mr. Hall, from his + picture in the Royal Academy, 1889. Size of original 14-1/2 × 11-1/2 + in. Reproduced by gelatine blocks. + + The feeling in line is conspicuous in both blocks, but many painters + might prefer the smaller.] + + [Illustration: "A WILLOWY STREAM." (FROM THE PAINTING BY MAUD NAFTEL.) + + (_New Gallery, 1889._)] + +Mr. Emery Walker, of the firm of Walker and Boutall, who has had great +experience in the reproduction of illustrations and designs from old +books and manuscripts, will tell you that very often there is no +reduction of the original; and he will show reproductions in +photo-relief of engravings and drawings of the same size as the +originals, the character of the paper, and the colour of the printing +also, so closely imitated that experts can hardly distinguish one from +the other. On the other hand, the value of reduction, for certain styles +of drawing especially, can hardly be over-estimated. The last drawing +was reduced to less than half the length of the original, and is, I +think, one of the best results yet attained by the Dawson relief +process. + +Again, I say, "there is no rule about it." In the course of years, and +in the reduction to various scales of thousands of drawings by different +artists, to print at the type press, my experience is that _every +drawing has its scale, to which it is best reduced_. + +In these pages will be found examples of drawings reduced to +_one-sixtieth_ the area of the original, whilst others have not been +reduced at all. + + [Illustration: No. X. + + "_Twins_," by STANLEY BERKLEY. + + Sketch in pen and ink (size 8-1/4 × 5-1/2 in.) from Mr. Berkley's + picture in the Grosvenor Gallery in 1884. + + A good example of breadth and expression in line, the values being + well indicated. Mr. Berkley, knowing animal life well, and _knowing + his picture_, is able to give expression to almost every touch. Here + the common zinc process answers well.] + + [Illustration: "THE DARK ISLAND." (FROM THE PAINTING BY ALFRED EAST.) + + (_Royal Academy, 1885._)] + +There is much instruction in these drawings by painters, instruction of +a kind, not to be obtained elsewhere. The broad distinction between a +"sketch" from Nature and _a drawing made in a sketchy manner_ cannot be +too often pointed out, and such drawings as those by Mr. G. Clausen (p. +59), Fred. Hall (p. 73), Stanley Berkley (p. 79), T. C. Gotch (p. 83), +and others, help to explain the difference. These are all reproduced +easily on process blocks.[9] + +As to sketching in line from life, ready for reproduction on a process +block, it is necessary to say a few words here. The system is, I know, +followed by a few illustrators for newspapers (and by a few geniuses +like Mr. Joseph Pennell, Raven Hill, and Phil. May, who have their own +methods), and who, by incessant practice, have become proficient. They +have special ability for this kind of work, and their manner and style +is their capital and attraction. + + [Illustration: No. XI. + + _A Portrait_, by T. C. GOTCH. + + Pen-and-ink drawing (size 7-1/2 × 6-1/2 in.); from his picture in the + Exhibition of the New English Art Club, 1889. + + Mr. Gotch is well known for his painting of children; but he has also + the instinct for line drawing, and a touch which reproduces well + without any help from the maker of the zinc block. + + The absence of outline, and the modelling suggested by vertical lines, + also the treatment of background, should be noticed. This background + lights up when opposed to white and _vice-versa_.] + +But to attempt to _teach_ rapid sketching in pen and ink is beginning at +the wrong end, and is fatal to good art; it is like teaching the +principles of pyrotechnics whilst fireworks are going off. And yet we +hear of prizes given for rapid sketches to be reproduced by the +processes. Indeed, I believe this is the wrong road; the baneful result +of living in high-pressure times. It is difficult to imagine any artist +of the past consenting to such a system of education. + +Sketching from life is, of course, necessary to the student (especially +when making illustrations by wash drawings, of which I shall speak +presently), but for line work it should be done first in pencil, or +whatever medium is easiest at the moment. The lines for reproduction +require thinking about, thinking what to leave out, how to interpret the +grey of a pencil, or the tints of a brush sketch in the fewest lines. +Thus, and thus only, the student learns "the art of leaving out," "the +value of a line." + +The tendency of modern illustrators is to imitate somebody; and in line +drawing for the processes, where the artist, and not the engraver, has +to make the lines, imitation of some man's method is almost inevitable. + + [Illustration: No. XII. + + "_Sir John Tenniel_," by EDWIN WARD. + + Example of another style of line drawing. Mr. Ward is a master of + line, as well as a skilful portrait painter. He has lost nothing of + the force and character of the original here, by treating it in line. + + Mr. Ward has painted a series of small portraits of public men, of + which there is an example on p. 90. + + Size of pen-and-ink drawing 8-1/2 × 5-1/2 in., reproduced by common + process.] + +Let me quote an instance. The style of the late Charles Keene is +imitated in more than one journal at the present time, the artists +catching his method of line more easily than the higher qualities of his +art, his _chiaroscuro_, his sense of values and atmospheric effect. I +say nothing of his pictorial sense and humour, for they are beyond +imitation. It is the husk only we have presented to us. + +As a matter of education and outlook for the younger generation of +illustrators, this imitation of other men's lines deserves our special +consideration. Nothing is easier in line work than to copy from the +daily press. Nothing is more prejudicial to good art, or more fatal to +progress. + +And yet it is the habit of some instructors to hold up the methods (and +the tricks) of one draughtsman to the admiration of students. I read in +an art periodical the other day, a suggestion for the better +understanding of the way to draw topical illustrations in pen and ink, +viz.: that examples of the work of Daniel Vierge, Rico, Abbey, Raven +Hill, and other noted pen draughtsmen, should be "set as an exercise to +students;" of course with explanation by a lecturer or teacher. But this +is a dangerous road for the average student to travel. Of all branches +of art none leads so quickly to mannerism as line work, and a particular +manner when thus acquired is difficult to shake off. + + [Illustration: THE RT. HON. JOHN MORLEY, M.P. (EDWIN WARD.)] + +Think of the consequences--Vierge with his garish lights, his trick of +black spots, his mechanical shadows and neglect of _chiaroscuro_--all +redeemed and tolerated in a genius for the dash and spirit and beauty of +his lines--lines, be it observed, that reproduce with difficulty on +relief blocks--imitated by countless students; Mr. E. A. Abbey, the +refined, and delicate American draughtsman, imitated for his +method--the style and _chic_ of it being his own, and inimitable. Think +of the crowd coming on--imitators of the imitators of Rico--imitators of +the imitators of Charles Keene! + +It may be said generally, that in order to obtain work as an +illustrator--the practical point--there must be originality of thought +and design. _There must be originality_, as well as care and thought +bestowed on every drawing for the Press. + +The drawing of portraits in line from photographs gives employment to +some illustrators, as line blocks will print in newspapers much better +than photographs. But for newspaper printing they must be done with +something of the precision of this portrait, in which the whites are cut +deep and where there are few broken lines. + +It is the exception to get good printing in England, under present +conditions of haste and cheapening of production, and therefore the best +drawings for rapid reproduction are those that require the least +touching on the part of the engraver, as _a touched-up process block is +troublesome to the printer_; but it is difficult to impress this on the +artistic mind. + + [Illustration: No. XIII. + + "_Nothing venture, nothing have_," by E. P. SANGUINETTI. + + Pen-and-ink drawing from the picture by E. P. Sanguinetti, exhibited + at the Nineteenth Century Art Society's Gallery, 1888. + + The large block is suitable for printing on common paper, and by fast + machines. The little block is best adapted for bookwork, and is + interesting as showing the quality obtained by reduction. It is an + excellent example of drawing for process, showing much ingenuity of + line. The tone and shadows on the ground equal the best fac-simile + engraving. (Size of original drawing, from which both blocks were + made, 15 × 10 in.)] + + [Illustration: "ON THE TERRACE." (E. A. ROWE.) _From his water-colour + in the New Gallery, 1894._ + + Size of Pen Drawing, 5-3/4 x 7-1/2 in.] + +Some people cannot draw firm clean lines at all, and _should not attempt +them_. Few allow sufficiently for the result of reduction, and the +necessary thickening of some lines. The results are often a matter of +touch and temperament. Some artists are naturally unfitted for line +work; the rules which would apply to one are almost useless to another. +Again, there is great inequality in the making of these cheap zinc +blocks, however well the drawings may be made; they require more care +and experience in developing than is generally supposed. + +As line drawing is the basis of the best drawing for the press, I have +interspersed through these pages examples and achievements in this +direction; examples which in nearly every case are the result of +knowledge and consideration of the requirements of process, as an +antidote to the sketchy, careless methods so much in vogue. Here we may +see--as has probably never been seen before in one volume--what +harmonies and discords may be played on this instrument with one string. +One string--no "messing about," if the phrase may be excused--pure black +lines on Bristol board (or paper of the same surface), photographed on +to a zinc plate, the white parts etched away and the drawing made to +stand in relief, ready to print with the letterpress of a book; every +line and touch coming out a black one, or rejected altogether by the +process. + + [Illustration: No. XIV. + + "_For the Squire_," by SIR JOHN MILLAIS, BART., R. A. + + This is an example of drawing for process for rapid printing. The + accents of the picture are expressed firmly and in the fewest lines, + to give the effect of the picture in the simplest way. Sir John + Millais' picture, which was exhibited in the Grosvenor Gallery in + 1883, was engraved in mezzotint, and published by Messrs. Thos. Agnew + & Sons. (Size of pen-and-ink drawing, 7-1/4 × 5-1/2 in.) It is + suitable for much greater reduction.] + +Drawings thus made, upon Bristol board or paper of similar surface, with +lamp black, Indian ink, or any of the numerous inks now in use, which +dry with a dull, not shiny, surface, will always reproduce well. The pen +should be of medium point, or a brush may be used as a pen. The lines +should be clear and sharp, and are capable of much variation in style +and treatment, as we see in these pages. I purposely do not dwell here +upon some special surfaces and papers by which different tones and +effects may be produced by the line processes; there is too much +tendency already with the artist to be interested in the mechanical +side. I have not recommended the use of "clay board," for instance, for +the line draughtsman, although it is much used for giving a crisp line +to process work, and has a useful surface for scraping out lights, &c. +The results are nearly always mechanical looking.[10] + +On the next page are two simple, straightforward drawings, which, it +will be observed, are well suited to the method of reproduction for the +type press. The first is by Mr. H. S. Marks, R. A. (which I take from +the pages of _Academy Notes_), skilfully drawn upon Bristol board, about +7 × 5 in. + +Here every line tells, and none are superfluous; the figure of the monk, +the texture of his dress, the old stone doorway, the creeper growing on +the wall, and the basket of provisions, all form a picture, the lines of +which harmonise well with the type of a book. + + [Illustration: "THE STOPPED KEY." (H. S. MARKS, R. A.)] + +In this deliberate, careful drawing, in which white paper plays by far +the principal part, the background and lighting of the picture are +considered, also the general balance of a decorative page.[11] + + [Illustration: "NYMPH AND CUPID." SMALL BAS-RELIEF. (H. HOLIDAY.) + + (_From "Academy Notes."_)] + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [7] No one artist can teach drawing in line without a tendency to + mannerism, especially in art classes. + + [8] One of the most accomplished of English painters told me the + other day that when he first drew for illustration, the wood engraver + dictated the angle and style of cross-hatching, &c., so as to fit the + engraver's tools. + + [9] Special interest attaches to the examples in this book from the + fact that they have nearly all been _drawn on different kinds of + paper_, and _with different materials_; and yet nearly all, as will + be seen, have come out successfully, and give the spirit of the + original. + + [10] For description of the various grained papers, &c., see page + 113, also _Appendix_. + + [11] The young "pen-and-ink artist" of to-day generally avoids + backgrounds, or renders them by a series of unmeaning scratches; he + does not consider enough the true "lighting of a picture," as we + shall see further on. The tendency of much modern black-and-white + teaching is to ignore backgrounds. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +PHOTO-ZINC PROCESS.[12] + + +In order to turn any of these drawings into blocks for the type press, +the first process is to have it photographed to the size required, and +to transfer a print of it on to a sensitized zinc plate. This print, or +photographic image of the drawing lying upon the zinc plate, is of +greasy substance (bichromate of potash and gelatine), and is afterwards +inked up with a roller; the plate is then immersed in a bath of nitric +acid and ether, which cuts away the parts which were left white upon +the paper, and leaves the lines of the drawing in relief. This "biting +in," as it is called, requires considerable experience and attention, +according to the nature of the drawing. Thus, the lines are turned into +metal in a few hours, and the plate when mounted on wood to the height +of type-letters, is ready to be printed from, if necessary, at the rate +of several thousands an hour. + + [Illustration: PORTRAIT. (T. BLAKE WIRGMAN.) + + (_From "Academy Notes."_)] + + [This portrait was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1880. I reproduce + Mr. Wirgman's sketch for the sake of his powerful treatment of line.] + + + [Illustration: No. XV. + + "_Forget-Me-Not_," by HENRY RYLAND. + + (_From the "English Illustrated Magazine."_) + +An unusually fine example of reproduction in line, by zinc process, from +a large pen-and-ink drawing. It serves to show how clearly writing can +be reproduced if done by a trained hand. Students should notice the +variety of "colour" and delicacy of line, also the brightness and +evenness of the process block throughout. + +This illustration suggests possibilities in producing decorative pages +in modern books without the aid of printers' type, which is worth +consideration in art schools. It requires, of course, knowledge of the +figure and of design, and a trained hand for process. One obvious +preparation for such work, is an examination of decorative pages in the +Manuscript Department of the British Museum. (_See Appendix._) + +It would be difficult, I think, to show more clearly the scope and +variety of line work by process than in the contrast between this and +the two preceding illustrations. Each artist is an expert in black and +white in his own way.] + + [Illustration: "BABY'S OWN." (G. HILLYARD SWINSTEAD.) + + (_From "Academy Notes," 1890._)] + +A wonderful and startling invention is here, worthy of a land of +enchantment, which, without labour, with little more than a wave of the +hand, transfixes the artist's touch, and turns it into concrete; by +which the most delicate and hasty strokes of the pen are not merely +recorded in fac-simile for the eye to decipher, but are brought out in +sharp relief, as bold and strong as if hewn out of a rock! Here is an +argument for doing "the best and truest work we can," a process that +renders indestructible--so indestructible that nothing short of +cremation would get rid of it--every line that we put upon paper; an +argument for learning for purposes of illustration the touch and method +best adapted for reproduction by the press.[13] + + [Illustration: "A SILENT POOL." (ED. W. WAITE.) (_From "Academy + Notes," 1891._)] + + +GELATINE PROCESS. + +By this process a more delicate and sensitive method has been used to +obtain a relief block. + +The drawing is photographed to the required size (as before), and the +_negative_ laid upon a glass plate (previously coated with a mixture of +gelatine and bichromate of potash). The part of this thin, sensitive +film not exposed to the light, is absorbent, and when immersed in water +swells up. The part exposed to the light (_i.e._, the lines of the +drawing) remains near the surface of the glass. Thus we have a sunk +mould from which a metal cast can be taken, leaving the lines in relief +as in the zinc process. In skilful hands this process admits of more +delicate gradations, and pale, uncertain lines can be reproduced with +tolerable fidelity. The blocks take longer to make, and are double the +price of the photo-zinc process first described. There is no process yet +invented which gives better results from a pen-and-ink drawing for the +type-press. These blocks when completed have a copper surface. The +reproductions of pencil, chalk, or charcoal drawings by the zinc, or +"biting-in" processes are nearly always failures, as we may see in some +of the best artistic books and magazines to-day. + + [Illustration: No. XVI. + + "_The Miller's Daughter_," by E. K. JOHNSON. + + Another very interesting example of Mr. E. K. Johnson's drawing in pen + and ink. Nearly every line has the value intended by the artist. + + The drawing has been largely reduced, and reproduced by the gelatine + relief process.] + + [Illustration: "THE END OF THE CHAPTER." (FROM THE PAINTING BY W. + RAINEY.) + + [_Royal Academy, 1886._] + + (_Reproduced by the old Dawson process._)] + + [Illustration: "IN THE PAS DE CALAIS." (JAS. PRINSEP BEADLE.)[14]] + + +GRAINED PAPERS. + +For those who cannot draw easily with the pen, there are several kinds +of grained papers which render drawings suitable for reproduction. The +first is a paper with _black lines_ imprinted upon it on a material +suitable for scraping out to get lights, and strengthening with pen or +pencil to get solid blacks. On some of these papers black lines are +imprinted horizontally, some vertically, some diagonally, some in dots, +and some with lines of several kinds, one under the other, so that the +artist can get the tint required by scraping out. Drawings thus made can +be reproduced in relief like line drawings, taking care not to reduce a +fine black grain too much or it will become "spotty" in reproduction. + + [Illustration: "GOLDEN DAYS." (F. STUART RICHARDSON.) + + (_Black-grained paper._)] + +This drawing and the one opposite by Mr. Hume Nisbet show the skilful +use of paper with vertical and horizontal black lines; also, in the +latter drawing, the different qualities of strength in the sky, and the +method of working over the grained paper in pen and ink. + + [Illustration: No. XVII. + + "TWILIGHT." (SPECIMEN OF BLACK-GRAINED PAPER.) + + (_From "Lessons in Art," by Hume Nisbet, published by Chatto & + Windus._)] + + [Illustration: No. XVIII.] + + "_Le Dent du Géant_," by E. T. COMPTON. + + Another skilful use of the black-grained paper to represent snow, + glacier, and drifting clouds. The original tone of the paper may be + seen in the sky and foreground. + + The effect is obtained by scraping out the lighter parts on the paper + and strengthening the dark with pen and pencil. + + It is interesting to compare the two blocks made from the same + drawing. (Size of drawing 7-3/4 × 4 in.)] + + [Illustration: No. XIX. + + _Landscape_, by A. M. LINDSTROM. + + Example of bold effect by scraping out on the black-lined paper, and + free use of autographic chalk. + + This drawing shows, I think, the artistic limitations of this process + in the hands of an experienced draughtsman. + + The original drawing by Mr. Lindstrom (from his painting in the Royal + Academy) was the same size as the reproduction.] + +Other papers largely used for illustration in the type press have a +_white grain_, a good specimen of which is on page 123; and there are +variations of these white-grained papers, of which what is known in +France as _allongé_ paper is one of the best for rough sketches in books +and newspapers. + +The question may arise in many minds, are these contrivances with their +mechanical lines for producing effect, worthy of the time and attention +which has been bestowed upon them? I think it is very doubtful if much +work ought to be produced by means of the black-grained papers; +certainly, in the hands of the unskilled, the results would prove +disastrous. A painter may use them for sketches, especially for +landscape. Mr. Compton (as on p. 116) can express very rapidly and +effectively, by scraping out the lights and strengthening the darks, a +snowdrift or the surface of a glacier. In the drawing on page 123, Mr. +C. J. Watson has shown us how the grained paper can be played with, in +artistic hands, to give the effect of a picture. + +The difference, artistically speaking, between sketches made on +black-grained and white-grained papers seems to me much in favour of the +latter. + + [Illustration: No. XX. + + "_Volendam_," by C. J. WATSON. + + Example of white-lined paper, treated very skilfully and + effectively--only the painter of the picture could have given so much + breadth and truth of effect. + + This _white_ paper has a strong vertical grain which when drawn upon + with autographic chalk has the same appearance as black-lined paper; + and is often taken for it. + + (Size of drawing 6 × 4-1/2 in.)] + +But at the best, blocks made from drawings on these papers are apt to be +unequal, and do not print with the ease and certainty of pure line work; +they require good paper and careful printing, which is not always to be +obtained. The artist who draws for the processes in this country must +not expect (excepting in very exceptional cases) to have his work +reproduced and printed as in America, or even as well as in this book. + + [Illustration: "AND WEE PEERIE WINKIE PAYED FOR A'." (FROM THE + PAINTING BY HUGH CAMERON.) + + _Example of a good chalk drawing too largely reduced._] + + [Illustration: No. XXI. + + "_An Arrest_," by MELTON PRIOR. + + This is a remarkable example of the reproduction of a pencil drawing. + It is seldom that the soft grey effect of a pencil drawing can be + obtained on a "half-tone" relief block, or the lights so successfully + preserved. + + This is only a portion of a picture by Mr. Melton Prior, the + well-known special artist, for which I am indebted to the proprietors + of _Sketch_. + + The reproduction is by Carl Hentschel.] + +The reproduction on the previous page owes its success not only to good +process, paper, and printing, but also to _the firm, decisive touch of +an experienced illustrator_ like Mr. Melton Prior. A pencil drawing in +less skilful hands is apt to "go to pieces" on the press. + +Mr. C. G. Harper, in his excellent book on _English Pen Artists_, has +treated of other ways in which drawings on prepared papers may be +manipulated for the type press; but not always with success. In that +interesting publication, _The Studio_, there have appeared during the +past year many valuable papers on this subject, but in which the +_mechanism_ of illustration is perhaps too much insisted on. Some of the +examples of "mixed drawings," and of chalk-and-pencil reproductions, +might well deter any artist from adopting such aids to illustration. + +The fact is, that the use of grained papers is, at the best, a makeshift +and a degradation of the art of illustration, if judged by the old +standards. It will be a bad day for the art of England when these +mechanical appliances are put into the hands of young students in art +schools. + +For the purposes of ordinary illustrations we should keep to the simpler +method of line. All these contrivances require great care in printing, +and the blocks have often to be worked up by an engraver. _The material +of the process blocks is unsuited to the purpose._ In a handbook to +students of illustration this requires repeating on nearly every page. + +As a contrast to the foregoing, let us look at a sketch in pure line by +the landscape painter, Mr. M. R. Corbet, who, with little more than a +scribble of the pen, can express the feeling of sunrise and the still +air amongst the trees. + + [Illustration: "SUNRISE IN THE SEVERN VALLEY." (MATTHEW R. CORBET.)] + + +MECHANICAL DOTS. + +Amongst the modern inventions for helping the hurried or feeble +illustrator, is the system of laying on mechanical dots to give shadow +and colour to a pure line drawing, by process. It is a practice always +to be regretted; whether applied to a necessarily hasty newspaper +sketch, or to one of Daniel Vierge's elaborately printed illustrations +in the _Pablo de Segovia_. One cannot condemn too strongly this system, +so freely used in continental illustrated sheets, but which, in the most +skilful hands, seems a degradation of the art of illustration. These +dots and lines, used for shadow, or tone, are laid upon the plate by the +maker of the block, the artist indicating, by a blue pencil mark, the +parts of a drawing to be so manipulated; and as the illustrator _has not +seen the effect on his own line drawing_, the results are often a +surprise to everyone concerned. I wish these ingenious contrivances were +more worthy of an artist's attention. + +On the opposite page is an example taken from an English magazine, by +which it may be seen that all daylight has been taken ruthlessly from +the principal figure, and that it is no longer in tone with the rest of +the picture, as an open air sketch. The system is tempting to the +hurried illustrator; he has only to draw in line (or outline, which is +worse) and then mark where the tint is to appear, and the dots are laid +on by the maker of the blocks. + + [Illustration: "THE ADJUTANT'S LOVE STORY." (H. R. MILLAR.) + + (_Example of mechanical grain._) + + No. XXII.] + +In the illustration on the last page (I have chosen an example of +fine-grain dots; those used in newspapers and common prints are much +more unsightly, as everyone knows), it is obvious that the artist's +sketch is injured by this treatment, that, in fact, the result is not +artistic at all. Nothing but high pressure or incompetence on the part +of the illustrator can excuse this mechanical addition to an incomplete +drawing; and it must be remembered that these inartistic results are not +the fault of the process, or of the "process man." But the system is +growing in every direction, to save time and trouble, and is lowering +the standard of topical illustrations. And it is this system (_inter +alia_) which is taught in technical schools, where the knowledge of +process is taking the place of wood engraving. + +The question is again uppermost in the mind, are such mechanical +appliances ("dodges," I venture to call them) worthy the serious +attention of artists; and can any good arise by imparting such knowledge +to youthful illustrators in technical schools? Wood engraving was a +craft to be learned, with a career for the apprentice. _There is no +similar career for a lad by learning the "processes;" and nothing but +disappointment before him if he learns the mechanism before he is an +educated and qualified artist._ + +Mention should be made here (although I do not wish to dwell upon it) of +drawing in line on prepared transfer paper with autographic ink, which +is transferred to zinc without the aid of photography, a process very +useful for rapid and common work; but it is seldom used for good book +illustration, as it is irksome to the artist and not capable of very +good results; moreover, the drawing has often to be minute, as the +reproduction will be the same size as the original. It is one of the +processes which I think the student of art had better not know much +about.[15] + +That it is possible, by the common processes, to obtain strong effects +almost equal to engraving, may be seen in some process illustrations by +Mr. Lancelot Speed, in which many technical experiments have been made, +including the free use of white lining. + +Mr. Speed is very daring in his experiments, and students may well +puzzle over the means by which he obtains his effects by the line +processes. + + [Illustration] + +The illustration opposite from Andrew Lang's _Blue Poetry Book_, shows a +very ingenious treatment of the black-lined papers. Technically it is +one of the best examples I know of,--the result of much study and +experiment. + + [Illustration: _From Andrew Lang's "Blue Poetry Book."_ (LANCELOT + SPEED.) + + No. XXIII.] + + [Illustration: No. XXIV. + + "_The Armada_," by LANCELOT SPEED. + + This extraordinary example of line drawing for process was taken from + Andrew Lang's _Blue Poetry Book_, published by Messrs. Longmans. + + In this illustration no wash has been used, nor has there been any + "screening" or engraving on the block. The methods of lining are, of + course, to a great extent the artist's own invention. This + illustration and the two preceding lead to the conclusion that there + is yet much to learn in _drawing for process_ by those who will study + it. The achievements of the makers of the blocks, with difficult + drawings to reproduce, is quite another matter. Here all is easy for + the reproducer, the common zinc process only being employed, and the + required effects obtained without much worrying of the printer, or of + the maker of the blocks. + + * * * * * + + Thus far all the illustrations in this book have been produced by the + common line process.] + + [Illustration: "SEINE BOATS." (FROM THE PAINTING BY LOUIS GRIER.)] + + +"HALF-TONE" PROCESS. + +The next process to consider is the method of reproducing wash drawings +and photographs on blocks suitable for printing at the type press, +commonly known as the Meisenbach or "half-tone process;" a most +ingenious and valuable invention, which, in clever hands, is capable of +artistic results, but which in common use has cast a gloom over +illustrations in books and newspapers. + +First, as to the method of making the blocks. As there are no lines in a +wash drawing or in a photograph from nature, it is necessary to obtain +some kind of grain, or interstices of white, on the zinc plate, as in a +mezzotint; so between the drawing or photograph to be reproduced and the +camera, glass screens, covered with lines or dots, are interposed, +varying in strength according to the light and shade required; thus +turning the image of the wash drawing practically into "line," with +sufficient interstices of white for printing purposes. + + [Illustration: "THERE IS THE PRIORY!"] + +Thus, all drawings in wash, chalk, pencil, etc., that will not reproduce +by the direct line processes, already referred to, are treated for +printing at the type press; and thus the uniform, monotonous dulness, +with which we are all familiar, pervades the page. + +The conditions of drawing for this process have to be carefully studied, +to prevent the meaningless smears and blotches (the result generally of +making too hasty sketches in wash) which disfigure nearly every magazine +and newspaper we take up. There is no necessity for this degradation of +illustration. + +The artist who draws in wash with body colour, or paints in oils in +monochrome, for this process, soon learns that his high lights will be +lost and his strongest effects neutralised, under this effect of gauze; +and so for pictorial purposes he has to _force his effect_ and +exaggerate lights and shades; avoiding too delicate gradations, and in +his different tones keeping, so to speak, to one octave instead of two. +Thus, also for this process, to obtain brightness and cheap effect, the +illustrator of to-day often avoids backgrounds altogether. + +In spite of the uncertainty of this system of reproduction, it has great +attractions for the skilful or the hurried illustrator. + + [Illustration: No. XXV. + + "Helga rode without a saddle as if she had grown to her horse--at full + speed." + + ("_Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales._")] + + [Illustration: No. XXVI. + + "_The Storks_," by J. R. WEGUELIN. + + "And high through the air came the first stork and the second stork; + a pretty child sat on the back of each." + + Example of half-tone process applied to a slight wash drawing. The + illustration is much relieved by vignetting and _leaving out_: almost + the only chance for effect that the artist has by the screened + process. It suggests, as so many of the illustrations in this book do, + not the limits but the scope and possibilities of process work for + books. + + This and the preceding illustration by Mr. Weguelin are taken from + _Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales_ (Lawrence & Bullen, 1893).] + +That this "half-tone" process is susceptible of a variety of effects and +results, good and bad, every reader must be aware. + +The illustrations in this book, from pages 138 to 165, are all +practically by the same process of "screening," a slight difference only +in the grain being discernible. + +The wash drawing on page 139 suffers by the coarse grain on it, but the +values, it will be seen, are fairly well preserved. The lights which are +out of tone appear to have been taken out on the plate by the maker of +the block, a dangerous proceeding with figures on a small scale. Mr. +Louis Grier's clever sketch of his picture in wash, at the head of this +chapter, gives the effect well. + +Mr. Weguelin's illustrations to _Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales_ have been, +I understand, a great success, the public caring more for the spirit of +poetry that breathes through them than for more finished drawings. This +is delightful, and as it should be, although, technically, the artist +has not considered his process enough, and from the educational point of +view it has its dangers. The "process" has been blamed roundly, in one +or two criticisms of Mr. Weguelin's illustrations, whereas _the process +used is the same as on pages 149 and 157_. + +However, the effect on a wash drawing is not satisfactory in the best +hands. So uncertain and gloomy are the results that several well-known +illustrators decline to use it as a substitute for wood engraving. We +shall have to improve considerably before wood engraving is abandoned. +We _are_ improving every day, and by this half-tone process numberless +wash drawings and photographs from nature are now presented to the +public in our daily prints. + +Great advances have been made lately in the "screening" of pencil +drawings, and in taking out the lights of a sketch (as pointed out on +page 127), and results have been obtained by careful draughtsmen during +the last six months which a year ago would have been considered +impossible. These results have been obtained principally by good +printing and paper--allowing of a fine grain on the block--but where the +illustration has to be prepared for printing, say 5,000 an hour, off +rotary machines, a coarser grain has to be used, producing the "Berlin +wool pattern" effect on the page, with which we are all familiar in +newspapers. + +Let us now look at two examples of wash drawing by process, lent by the +proprietors of _Black and White_. + + [Illustration: No. XXVII. + + This is a good average example of what to expect by the half-tone + process from a wash drawing. That the result is tame and monotonous is + no fault of the artist, whose work could have been more brightly + rendered by wood engraving. + + That "it is better to have this process than bad wood engraving" is + the opinion of nearly all illustrators of to-day. The artist _sees his + own work_, at any rate, if through a veil of fog and gloom which is + meant for sunshine! + + But the time is coming when the public will hardly rest content with + such results as these.] + + [Illustration: No. XXVIII. + + _Illustration from_ "_Black and White_," by G. G. MANTON. + + This is a good example of wash drawing for process; that is to say, a + good example from the "process man's" point of view. + + Here the artist has used his utmost endeavours to meet the process + half-way; he has been careful to use broad, clear, firm washes, and + has done them with certainty of hand, the result of experience. If, in + the endeavour to get strength, and the _best results out of a few + tones_, the work lacks some artistic qualities, it is almost a + necessity. + + Mr. Manton has a peculiar method of lining, or stippling, over his + wash work, which lends itself admirably for reproduction; but the + practice can hardly be recommended to the attention of students. It is + as difficult to achieve artistic results by these means, as in the + combination of line and chalk in one drawing, advocated by some + experts. + + At the same time, Mr. Manton's indication of surfaces and textures by + process are both interesting and valuable.] + + [Illustration: "A SUNNY LAND." (FROM THE PAINTING BY GEORGE WETHERBEE.) + + (_New Gallery, 1891._)] + + [Illustration: DECORATIVE DESIGN BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT.] + + (The above design, from the _Memoir of R. Caldecott_, is lent by + Messrs. Sampson Low & Co.) + +One of the many uses which artists may make of the half-tone process is +suggested by the reproduction of one of Mr. Caldecott's decorative +designs, drawn freely with a brush full of white, on brown paper on a +large scale (sometimes two or even three feet long), and reduced as +above; the reduction refining and improving the design. + +This is a most legitimate and practical use of "process" for +illustrating books, architectural and others, which in artistic hands +might well be further developed. + +Of the illustrators who use this process in a more free-and-easy way we +will now take an example, cut out of the pages of _Sketch_ (_see_ +overleaf, p. 155). + +Here truths of light and shade are disregarded, the figure stands out in +unnatural darkness against white paper, and flat mechanical shadows are +cast upon nothing. Only sheer ability on the part of a few modern +illustrators has saved these coarse ungainly sketches from universal +condemnation. But the splashes, and spots, and stains, which are taking +the place of more serious work in illustration, have become a vogue in +1894. The sketch is made in two or three hours, instead of a week; the +process is also much cheaper to the publisher than wood engraving, and +the public seems satisfied with a sketch where formerly a finished +illustration was required, if the subject be treated dramatically and in +a lively manner. If the sketch comes out an unsightly smear on the page, +it at least answers the purpose of topical illustration, and apparently +suits the times. It is little short of a revolution in illustration, of +which we do not yet see the end.[16] + +The bookstalls are laden with the daring achievements of Phil May, Raven +Hill, Dudley Hardy, and others, but it is not the object of this book to +exhibit the works of genius, either for emulation or imitation. It is +rather to suggest to the average student what he may legitimately +attempt, and to show him the possibilities of the process block in +different hands. It may be said, without disparagement of the numerous +clever and experienced illustrators of the day, that they are only +adapting themselves to the circumstances of the time. There is a +theory--the truth of which I do not question--that the reproductions of +rapid sketches from the living model by the half-tone process have more +vitality and freedom, more feeling and artistic qualities than can be +obtained by any other means. But the young illustrator should hesitate +before adapting these methods, and should _never have anything +reproduced for publication which was "drawn to time" in art classes_. + +One thing cannot be repeated too often in this connection: that the +hastily produced blotches called "illustrations," which disfigure the +pages of so many books and magazines, are generally the result of want +of care on the part of the artist rather than of the maker of the +blocks. + + [Illustration: No. XXIX. + + This is part of a page illustration lent by the proprietors of + _Sketch_. It does not do justice to the talent (or the taste, we will + hope), of the illustrator, and is only inserted here to record the + kind of work which is popular in 1894. (Perhaps in a second edition we + may have other exploits of genius to record.) + + It should be noted that this and the illustration on p. 149 are both + reproduced by the same hal-ftone process, the difference of result + being altogether in the handling of the brush. This sketch would have + been intolerable in less artistic hands. Artists will doubtless find + more feeling and expression in the broad washes and splashes before + us, than in the most careful stippling of Mr. Manton. + + Students of wash drawing for process may take a middle course.] + +A word here on the influence of + + PROCESS-BLOCK MAKERS + +on the young illustrator. The "process man," the teacher and inciter to +achievements by this or that process, is not usually an "artist" in the +true sense of the word. He knows better than anyone else what lines he +can reproduce, and especially what kind of drawing is best adapted for +his own process. He will probably tell the young draughtsman what +materials to use, what amount of reduction his drawings will bear, and +other things of a purely technical not to say businesslike character. +Let me not be understood to disparage the work of photo-engravers and +others engaged on these processes; on the contrary, the amount of +patience, industry, activity, and anxious care bestowed upon the +reproduction of drawings and paintings is astonishing, and deserves our +gratitude.[17] This work is a new industry of an important kind, in +which art and craft are bound up together. The day has past when +"process work" is to be looked down upon as only fit for the cheapest, +most inferior, and inartistic results. + + [Illustration: "THE BROOK." (FROM A PAINTING BY ARNOLD HELCKÉ.)] + + +PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS. + +One result of hasty work in making drawings, and the uncertainty of +reproduction, promises to be a very serious one to the illustrator, as +far as we can see ahead, viz.: the gradual substitution of photographs +from life for other forms of illustration. The "Meisenbach" reproduction +of a photograph from life, say a full length figure of an actress in +some elaborate costume, seems to answer the purpose of the editor of a +newspaper to fill a page, where formerly artists and engravers would +have been employed. One reason for this is that the details of the dress +are so well rendered by photography on the block as to answer the +purpose of a fashion plate, an important matter in some weekly +newspapers. The result is generally unsatisfactory from an artist's +point of view, but the picture is often most skilfully composed and the +values wonderfully rendered, direct from the original. + +In the case of the reproduction of photographs, which we are now +considering, much may be done by working up a platinotype print before +giving it out to be made into a block. Much depends here upon the +artistic knowledge of editors and publishers, who have it in their power +to have produced good or bad illustrations from the same original. The +makers of the blocks being confined to time and price, are practically +powerless, and seldom have an opportunity of obtaining the best results. +It should be mentioned that blocks made from wash drawings, being +shallower than those made from line drawings, suffer more from bad +printing and paper. + +A good silver print (whether from a photograph from life or from a +picture), full of delicate gradations and strong effects, appears on the +plate through the film of gauze, dull, flat, and comparatively +uninteresting; but _the expression of the original is given with more +fidelity_ than could be done by any ordinary wood engraving. This is +the best that can be said for it, it is a dull, mechanical process, +requiring help from the maker of the blocks; and so a system of touching +on the negative (before making the block) to bring out the lights and +accents of the picture is the common practice. This is a hazardous +business at the best, especially when dealing with the copy of a +painting. I mention it to show where "handwork" in the half-tone process +first comes in. The block, when made, is also often touched up by an +engraver in places, especially where spotty or too dark; and on this +work many who were formerly wood-engravers now find employment. + +There is no doubt that the makers of process blocks are the best +instructors as to the results to be obtained by certain lines and +combinations of lines; but in the majority of cases they will tell the +artist too much, and lead him to take too much interest in the +mechanical side of the business. The illustrator's best protection +against this tendency, his whole armour and coat of mail, is to be _an +artist first and an illustrator afterwards_. + +This is the sum of the matter. Perhaps some of the examples in this book +may help us, and lead to a more thorough testing of results by capable +men. + + +"SKETCH." + +It will be interesting here to consider the material of which one number +of an illustrated paper (_Sketch_) is made up, and how far the artist +and wood engraver have part in it. From an economic point of view it +will be instructive. I take this "newspaper" as an example, because it +is a typical and quite "up-to-date" publication, vieing, in circulation +and importance, with the _Illustrated London News_, both published by +the same proprietors. In one number there are upwards of 30 pages, 10 +being advertisements. There are in all 151 illustrations, of which 63 +appear in the text part, and 88 in the advertisement pages. Out of the +text illustrations, 24 only are from original drawings or sketches. Next +are 26 _photographs from life_ (several being full pages), and 13 +reproductions from engravings, etc., reproduced by mechanical +processes--in all 63. Some of the pages reproduced from photographs are +undeniably good, and interesting to the public, as is evidenced by the +popularity of this paper alone. In the advertisement portion are 88 +illustrations (including many small ones), 85 of which have been +engraved on wood; a number of them are electrotypes from old blocks, but +there are many new ones every week. The reason for using wood engraving +largely for advertisements is, that wood blocks print more easily than +"process," when mixed with the type, and print better (being cut deeper +on the block) where inferior paper and ink are employed. But this class +of wood engraving may be summed up in the words of one of the craft to +me lately:--"It is not worth _£_2 a week to anybody." + + [Illustration: No. XXX. + + MISS KATE RORKE. (FROM "SKETCH.") + + (_Photographed from life by H. S. Mendelssohn_. _Reproduced by + half-tone process_)] + +Thus it will be seen that in the "text" part of this newspaper +two-thirds of the illustrations are produced without the aid of artist +or wood engraver! + +To turn to one of the latest instances where the photographer is the +illustrator. A photographer, Mr. Burrows, of Camborne, goes down a lead +mine in Cornwall with his apparatus, and takes a series of views of the +workings, which could probably have been done by no other means. Under +most difficult conditions he sets his camera, and by the aid of the +magnesium "flash-light," gives us groups of figures at work amidst +gloomy and weird surroundings. The results are exceptionally valuable as +"illustrations" in the true meaning of the word, on account of the clear +and accurate definition of details. The remarkable part, artistically, +is the good colour and grouping of the figures.[18] + +Another instance of the use of photography in illustration. Mr. +Villiers, the special artist of _Black and White_, made a startling +statement lately. He said that out of some 150 subjects which he took at +the Chicago Exhibition, not more than half-a-dozen were drawn by him; +all the rest being "snap-shot" photographs. Some were very good, could +hardly be better, the result of many hours' waiting for the favourable +grouping of figures. That he would re-draw some of them with his clever +pencil for a newspaper is possible, but observe the part photography +plays in the matter. + +In America novels have been thus illustrated both in figure and +landscape; the weak point being the _backgrounds_ to the figure +subjects. I draw attention to this movement because the neglect of +composition, of appropriate backgrounds, and of the true lighting of the +figures by so many young artists, is throwing illustrations more and +more into the hands of the photographer. Thus the rapid "pen-and-ink +artist," and the sketcher in wash from an artificially lighted model in +a crowded art school, is hastening to his end. + + [Illustration: No. XXXI. + + (_A Photograph from life, by Messrs. Cameron & Smith. Reproduced by + half-tone process._)] + +The time is coming fast when cheap editions of popular novels will be +illustrated--and many in the following way. The artist, instead of being +called upon to draw, will occupy himself in setting and composing +pictures through the aid of models trained for the purpose, and the +ever-ready photographer. The "process man" and the clever manipulator on +the plates, will do the rest, producing pictures vignetted, if desired, +as overleaf. Much more the makers of blocks can do--and will do--with +the photographs now produced, for they are earnest, untiring, ready to +make sacrifices of time and money. + +The cheap dramatic illustrations, just referred to, which artists' +models in America know so well how to pose for, may be found suitable +from the commercial point of view for novels of the butterfly kind; but +they will seldom be of real artistic interest. And here, for the +present, we may draw the line between the illustrator and the +photographer. But the "black and white man" will obviously have to do +his best in every branch of illustration to hold his own in the future. +It may be thought by some artists that these things are hardly worth +consideration; but we have only to watch the illustrations appearing +week by week to see whither we are tending.[19] + +The last example of the photographer as illustrator, which can be given +here, is where a photograph from life engraved on wood is published as a +vignette illustration.[20] It is worth observing, because it has been +turned into line by the wood engraver, and serves for printing purposes +as a popular illustration. The original might have been more +artistically posed, but it is pretty as a vignette, and pleases the +public. (_See_ opposite page.) + +There are hundreds of such subjects now produced by the joint aid of the +photographer and the process engraver. It is not the artist and the wood +engraver who are really "working hand-in-hand" in these days in the +production of illustrations, but _the photographer and the maker of +process blocks_. This is significant. Happily for us there is much that +the photographer cannot do pictorially. But the photographer is, as I +said, marching on and on, and the line of demarcation between handwork +and photographic illustrations becomes less marked every day. + +The photographer's daughter goes to an art school, and her influence is +shown annually in the exhibitions of the photographic societies. + + [Illustration: No. XXXII. + + (_A Photograph from life, engraved on wood._)] + +This influence and this movement is so strong--and vital to the +artist--that it cannot be emphasised too much. The photographer is ever +in our midst, correcting our drawing with facts and details which no +human eye can see, and no one mind can take in at once. + +On the obligations of artists to photographers a book might be written. +The benefits are not, as a rule, unacknowledged; nor are the bad +influences of photography always noticed. That is to say, that before +the days of photography, the artist made himself acquainted with many +things necessary to his art, for which he now depends upon the +photographic lens; in short, he uses his powers of observation less than +he did a few years ago. That the photographer leads him astray sometimes +is another thing to remember. + +The future of the illustrator being uppermost in our thoughts, let us +consider further the influences with which he is surrounded. As to +photography, Mr. William Small, the well-known illustrator (who always +draws for wood engraving), says:--"it will never take good work out of a +good artist's hands." He speaks as an artist who has taken to +illustration seriously and most successfully, having devoted the best +years of his life to its development. The moral of it is, that in +whatever material or style newspaper illustrations are done, to hold +their own they must be of the best. Let them be as slight as you please, +if they be original and good. In line work (the best and surest for the +processes) photography can only be the servant of the artist, not the +competitor--and in this direction there is much employment to be looked +for. At present the influence is very much the other way; we are casting +off--ungratefully it would seem--the experience of the lifetime of the +wood engraver, and are setting in its place an art half developed, half +studied, full of crudities and discords. The illustrations which succeed +in books and newspapers, succeed for the most part from sheer ability on +the part of the artist; _they are full of ability_, but, as a rule, are +bad examples for students to copy. "Time is money" with these brilliant +executants; they have no time to study the value of a line, nor the +requirements of the processes, and so a number of drawings are handed to +the photo-engravers--which are often quite unfitted for mechanical +reproduction--to be produced literally in a few hours. It is an age of +vivacity, daring originality, and reckless achievement in illustration. +"Take it up, look at it, and throw it down," is the order of the day. +There is no reason but an economic one why the work done "to look at" +should not be as good as the artist can afford to make it. The +manufacturer of paperhangings or printed cottons will produce only a +limited quantity of one design, no matter how beautiful, and then go on +to another. So much the better for the designer, who would not keep +employment if he did not do his best, no matter whether his work was to +last for a day or for a year. The life of a single number of an +illustrated newspaper is a week, and of an illustrated book about a +year. + +The young illustrators on the _Daily Graphic_--notably Mr. Reginald +Cleaver--obtain the maximum of effect with the minimum of lines. Thus +Caldecott worked, spending hours sometimes studying the art of leaving +out. Charles Keene's example may well be followed, making drawing after +drawing, no matter how trivial the subject, until he was satisfied that +it was right. "Either right or wrong," he used to say; "'right enough' +will not do for me." + + [Illustration: No. XXXIII. + + "PROUD MAIRIE." (LANCELOT SPEED.) + + (_From "The Blue Poetry Book." London: Longmans._) + + Pen-and-ink drawing by line process.] + +Another influence on modern illustration--for good or bad--is the +electric light. It enables the photographic operator to be independent +of dark and foggy days, and to put a search-light upon objects which +otherwise could not be utilised. So far good. To the illustrator this +aid is often a doubtful advantage. The late Charles Keene (with whom I +have had many conversations on this subject) predicted a general +deterioration in the quality of illustrations from what he called +"unnatural and impossible effects," and he made one or two illustrations +in _Punch_ of figures seen under the then--(10 or 15 years ago)--novel +conditions of electric street lighting, one of which represented a man +who has been "dining" returning home through a street lighted up by +electric lamps, tucking up his trowsers to cross a black shadow which he +takes for a stream. Charles Keene's predictions have come true, we see +the glare of the magnesium light on many a page, and the unthinking +public is dazzled every week in the illustrated sheets with these +"unnatural and impossible effects." + +Thus it has come about that what was looked upon by Charles Keene as +garish, exaggerated, and untrue in effect, is accepted to-day by the +majority of people as a lively and legitimate method of illustration. + + +DANIEL VIERGE. + +One of the influences on the modern illustrator--a decidedly adverse +influence on the unlearned--is the prominence which has lately been +given to the art of Daniel Vierge. + +There is probably no illustrator of to-day who has more originality, +style, and versatility--in short more genius--than Vierge, and none +whose work, for practical reasons, is more misleading to students. + +As to his illustrations, from the purely literary and imaginative side, +they are as attractive to the scholar as drawings by Holbein or Menzell +are to the artist. Let us turn to the illustration on the next page, +from the _Pablo de Segovia_ by Quevedo; an example selected by the +editor, or publisher, of the book as a specimen page. + +First, as to the art of it. Nothing in its own way could be more +fascinating in humour, vivacity, and character than this grotesque duel +with long ladles at the entrance to an old Spanish posada. The sparkle +and vivacity of the scene are inimitable; the bounding figure haunts the +memory with its diaphanous grace, touched in by a master of expression +in line. In short, we are in the presence of genius. + + [Illustration: No. XXXIV. + + Example of DANIEL VIERGE'S illustrations to _Pablo de Segovia_, the + Spanish Sharper, by Francisco de Quevedo-Villegas, first published in + Paris, in 1882; afterwards translated into English (with an Essay on + Quevedo, by H. E. Watts, and comments on Vierge's work by Joseph + Pennell), and published by Mr. T. Fisher Unwin, in 1892. + + Vierge was born in 1851, and educated in Madrid, where he spent the + early years of his life. Since 1869 he has lived in Paris, and + produced numerous illustrations for _Le Monde Illustré_ and _La Vie + Moderne_, and other works. His fame was made in 1882 by Quevedo's + _Pablo de Segovia_, the illustrations to which he was unable to + complete owing to illness and paralysis. About twenty of these + illustrations were drawn with the left hand, owing to paralysis of the + right side. His career, full of romantic interest, suggests the future + illustrator of _Don Quixote_. + + These drawings were made upon white paper--Bristol board or drawing + paper--with a pen and Indian ink; but Vierge now uses a glass pen, + like an old stylus. The drawings were then given to Gillot, the + photo-engraver of Paris, who, by means of photography and _handwork_, + produced metal blocks to be printed with the type.] + +But the whole effect is obviously untrue to nature, and the tricks--of +black spots, of exaggerated shadows on the ground, of scratchings (and +of carelessness, which might be excused in a hasty sketch for _La Vie +Moderne_)--are only too apparent. + +In nearly every illustration in the _Pablo de Segovia_ (of which there +are upwards of one hundred), the artist has relied for brilliancy and +effect on patches of black (sometimes ludicrously exaggerated) and other +mannerisms, which we accept from a genius, but which the student had +better not attempt to imitate. To quote a criticism from the +_Spectator_, "There is almost no light and shade in Vierge. There is an +ingenious effect of dazzle, but there is no approach attempted to truth +of tone, shadows being quite capriciously used for decoration and +supplied to figures that tell as light objects against the sky which +throws the shadows." And yet in these handsome pages there are gems of +draughtsmanship and extraordinary _tours de force_ in illustration. + +In the reproduction of these drawings, I think the maker of the blocks, +M. Gillot, of Paris, would seem to have had a difficult task to perform. +The fact is, that Vierge's wonderful line drawings are sometimes as +difficult to reproduce for the type press as those of Holbein or +Menzell, and could only be done satisfactorily by one of the intaglio +processes, such as that employed by the Autotype Company in _éditions de +luxe_. That Vierge's drawings were worthy of this anyone who saw the +originals when exhibited at Barnard's Inn would, I think, agree. + +It is the duty of any writer or instructor in illustration, to point out +these things, once for all. That Vierge could adapt himself to almost +any process if he pleased, is demonstrated repeatedly in the _Pablo de +Segovia_, where (as on pages 63 and 67 of that book) the brilliancy and +"colour" of pure line by process has hardly ever been equalled. That +some of his illustrations are impossible to reproduce well, and have +been degraded in the process is also demonstrated on page 199 of the +same book, where a mechanical grain has been used to help out the +drawing, and the lines have had to be cut up and "rouletted" on the +block to make them possible to print. + +Of the clever band of illustrators of to-day who owe much of their +inspiration (and some of their tricks of method) to Vierge, it is not +necessary to speak here; we are in an atmosphere of genius in this +chapter, and geniuses are seldom safe guides to students of art. + +Speaking generally (and these remarks refer to editors and publishers as +well as draughtsmen), the art of illustration as practised in England is +far from satisfactory; we are too much given to imitating the tricks and +prettinesses of other nations, and it is quite the exception to find +either originality or individuality on the pages which are hurled from +the modern printing press; individuality as seen in the work of Adolphe +Menzell, and, in a different spirit, in that of Gustave Doré and Vierge. + + [Illustration] + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [12] The heading to this chapter was drawn in line and reproduced by + photo-zinc process. (See page 134.) + + [13] The mechanical processes, neglected and despised by the majority + of illustrators for many years, have, by a sudden freak of fashion, + apparently become so universal that, it is estimated, several + thousand blocks are made in London alone every week. + + [14] This excellent drawing was made on rough white paper with + autographic chalk; the print being much reduced in size. It is seldom + that such a good grey block can be obtained by this means. + + [15] The young artist would be much better occupied in learning + _drawing on stone_ direct, a branch of art which does not come into + the scope of this book, as it is seldom used in book illustration, + and cannot be printed at the type press. Drawing on stone is well + worthy of study now, for the art is being revived in England on + account of the greater facilities for printing than formerly. + + [16] The evil of it is that _we are becoming used to black blots_ in + the pages of books and newspapers, and take them as a matter of + course; just as we submit to the deformity of the outward man in the + matter of clothing. + + [17] On the opposite page is an excellent reproduction of a painting + from a photograph by the half-tone process. + + [18] "_'Mongst Mines and Miners_," by J. C. Burrows and W. Thomas. + (London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.) + + [19] Both Mr. Cameron's and Mr. Mendelssohn's photographs have had to + be slightly cut down to fit these pages. But as illustrations they + are, I think, remarkable examples of the photographer's and the + photo-engraver's art. + + [20] From the _Graphic_ newspaper, 28th October, 1893. + + + + + [Illustration: FROM "GRIMM'S HOUSEHOLD STORIES." (WALTER CRANE.)] + +CHAPTER V. + +WOOD ENGRAVINGS. + + +To turn to a more practical side of book illustration. The first +principle of illustration is to _illustrate_, and yet it is a fact that +few illustrations in books or magazines are to be found in their proper +places in the text. + +It is seldom that the illustration (so called) is in artistic harmony +with the rest of the page, as it is found in old books. One of the great +charms of Bewick's work is its individuality and expressive character. +Here the artist and engraver were one, and a system of illustration was +founded in England a hundred years ago which we should do well not to +forget.[21] + +We are fast losing sight of first principles and aiming rather at +catching the eye and the public purse with a pretty page; and in doing +this we are but imitators. In the English magazines it is strange to +find a slavish, almost childish imitation of the American system of +illustration; adopting, for instance, the plan of pictures turned over +at the corners or overlapping each other with exaggerated black borders +and other devices of the album of the last generation. This is what we +have come to in England in 1894 (with excellent wood engravers still), +and the kind of art by which we shall be remembered at the end of the +nineteenth century! I am speaking of magazines like _Good Words_ and +_Cassell's Magazine_, where wood engraving is still largely employed. + +It may be as well to explain here that the reasons for employing the +medium of wood engraving for elaborate illustrations which, such as we +see in American magazines, were formerly only engraved on copper or +steel, are--(1) rapidity of production, and (2) the almost illimitable +number of copies that can be produced from casts from wood blocks. The +broad distinction between the old and new methods of wood engraving is, +that in early days the lines were drawn clearly on the wood block and +the part not drawn cut away by the engraver, who endeavoured to make a +perfect fac-simile of the artist's lines. It is now a common custom to +transfer a photograph from life on to the wood block (_see p. 167_), +also to draw on the wood with a brush in tint, and even to photograph a +water-colour drawing on to the wood, leaving the engraver to turn the +tints into lines in his own way. + +In the very earliest days of book illustration, before movable +type-letters were invented, the illustration and the letters of the text +were all engraved on the wood together, and thus, of necessity (as in +the old block books produced in Holland and Belgium in the fifteenth +century), there was character and individuality in every page; the +picture, rough as it often was, harmonising with the text in an +unmistakable manner. From an artistic point of view, there was a better +balance of parts and more harmony of effect than in the more elaborate +illustrations of the present day. The illustration was an illustration +in the true sense of the word. It interpreted something to the reader +that words were incapable of doing; and even when movable type was first +introduced, the simple character of the engravings harmonised well with +the letters. There is a broad line of demarcation, indeed, between +these early wood engravings (such, for instance, as the "Ars Moriendi," +purchased for the British Museum in 1872, from the Weigel collection at +Leipsic, and recently reproduced by the Holbein Society) and the last +development of the art in the American magazines. The movement is +important, because the Americans, with an energy and _naïveté_ peculiar +to them, have set themselves the task of outstripping all nations in the +beauty and quality of magazine illustrations. That they have succeeded +in obtaining delicate effects, and what painters call colour, through +the medium of wood-engraving, is well known, and it is common to meet +people in England asking, "Have you seen the last number of _Harper's_ +or the _Century Magazine_?" The fashion is to admire them, and English +publishers are easily found to devote time and capital to distributing +American magazines (which come to England free of duty), to the +prejudice of native productions. The reason for the excellence (which is +freely admitted) of American wood-engraving and printing is that, in the +first place, more capital is employed upon the work. The American +wood-engraver is an artist in every sense of the word, and his education +is not considered complete without years of foreign study. The American +engraver is always _en rapport_ with the artist--an important +matter--working often, as I have seen them at _Harper's_, the _Century +Magazine_, and _Scribner's_ in New York, in the same studio, side by +side. In England the artist, as a rule, does not have any direct +communication with the wood engraver. In America the publisher, having a +very large circulation for his works, is able to bring the culture of +Europe and the capital of his own country to the aid of the +wood-engraver, spending sometimes five or six hundred pounds on the +illustrations of a single number of a monthly magazine. The result is +_an engraver's success_ of a very remarkable kind. + + [Illustration: XXXV. + + _A Portrait_ engraved on wood at the Office of the CENTURY MAGAZINE. + + Example of portraiture from the _Century Magazine_. It is interesting + to note the achievements of the American engravers at a time when wood + engraving in England is under a cloud. + + This portrait was photographed from life and afterwards worked up by + hand and most skilfully engraved in New York. + + (_Photograph from life, engraved on wood. From the Century + Magazine._)] + +A discussion of the merits of the various styles of wood engraving, and +of the different methods of drawing on wood, such as that initiated by +the late Frederick Walker, A. R. A.; the styles of Mr. William Small, E. +A. Abbey, Alfred Parsons, etc.--does not come into the scope of this +publication, but it will be useful to refer to one or two opinions on +the American system. + + "Book illustration as an art," as Mr. Comyns Carr pointed out in his + lectures at the Society of Arts ten years ago, "is founded upon wood + engraving, and it is to wood engraving that we must look if we are to + have any revival of the kind of beauty which early-printed books + possess. In the mass of work now produced, there is very little trace + of the principles upon which Holbein laboured. Instead of proceeding + by the simplest means, our modern artist seems rather by preference to + take the most difficult and complex way of expressing himself. A wood + engraving, it is not unjust to say, has become scarcely + distinguishable from a steel engraving excepting by its inferiority." + +Mr. Hubert Herkomer, R. A., who has had a very wide experience in the +graphic arts, says:-- + + "In modern times a body of engravers has been raised up who have + brought the art of engraving on wood to such a degree of perfection, + that the most modern work, especially that of the Americans, is done + to show _the skill of the engraver_ rather than the art of the + draughtsman. This, I do not hesitate to say, is a sign of decadence. + Take up any number of the _Century_ or _Harper's_ magazines, and you + will see that effect is the one aim. You marvel at the handling of the + engraver, and forget the artist. Correct, or honest, drawing is no + longer wanted. This kind of illustration is most pernicious to the + student, and _will not last_.... + + "America is a child full of promise in art--a child that is destined + to be a great master; so let us not imitate its youthful efforts or + errors. Americans were the first to foster this style of art, and they + will be the first to correct it." + +Mr. W. J. Linton, the well-known wood engraver, expresses himself thus +strongly on the modern system, and his words come with great force from +the other side of the Atlantic:-- + + "Talent is misapplied when it is spent on endeavours to rival + steel-line engraving or etching, in following brush-marks, in + pretending to imitate crayon-work, charcoal, or lithography, and in + striving who shall scratch the greatest number of lines on a given + space without thought of whether such multiplicity of lines adds + anything to the expression of the picture or the beauty of the + engraving. How much of talent is here thrown away! How much of force + that should have helped towards growth is wasted in this slave's play + for a prize not worth having--the fame of having well done the lowest + thing in the engraver's art, and having for that neglected the study + of the highest! For it is the lowest and the last thing about which an + artist should concern himself, this excessive fineness and minuteness + of work.... In engraving, as in other branches of art, _the first + thing is drawing, the second drawing, the third drawing_." + +This is the professional view, ably expressed, of a matter which has +been exercising many minds of late; and is worth quoting, if only to +show the folly of imitating a system acknowledged by experts to be +founded on false principles. + +But there is another view of the matter which should not be lost sight +of. Whatever the opinion of the American system of illustration may be, +there is, on the other side of the Atlantic, an amount of energy, +enterprise, cultivation of hand and eye, delicacy of manipulation, and +individual industry, cleverly organised to provide a wide continent with +a better art than anything yet attempted in any country. Some fine +engravings, which the Americans have lately been distributing amongst +the people, such, for instance, as the portraits (engraved from +photographs from life) which have appeared in _Harper's_ and the +_Century_ magazines, only reach the cultivated few in Europe in +expensive books. It is worth considering what the ultimate art effect of +this widespread distribution will be. The "prairie flower" holds in her +hand a better magazine, as regards illustrations, than anything +published in England at the same price; and a taste for delicate and +refined illustration is being fostered amongst a variety of people on +the western continent, learned and unlearned. That there is a want of +sincerity in the movement, that "things are not exactly what they seem," +that something much better might be done, may be admitted; but it will +be well for our illustrators and art providers to remember that the +Americans are advancing upon us with the power of capital and +ever-increasing knowledge and cultivation. In the _Century_ magazine, +ten years ago, there was an article on "The Pupils of Bewick," with +illustrations admirably reproduced from proofs of early wood engravings, +by "photo-engraving." + +This is noteworthy, as showing that the knowledge of styles is +disseminated everywhere in America; and also, how easy it is to +reproduce engravings by "process," and how _important to have a clear +copyright law on this subject_. + +Of the English wood engravers, and of the present state of the +profession in England much has been written. I believe the fact remains +that commercial wood engraving is still relied on by many editors and +publishers, as it prints with more ease and certainty than any of the +process blocks. + +That there are those in England (like Mr. Biscombe Gardner and others, +whose work I am unable to reproduce here), that believe in wood +engraving still as a vital art, capable of the highest results, I am +also well aware. But at the moment of writing it is difficult to get +many publishers to expend capital upon it for ordinary illustrations. + +On the next page is an example of good wood engraving. + + [Illustration: "DRIVING HOME THE PIGS." (JOHN PEDDER.) + + (_Academy Notes, 1891._)] + + [Illustration: No. XXXVI. + + _Joan of Arc's House at Rouen_, by the late SAMUEL PROUT. + + Engraved on wood by Mr. J. D. Cooper, from a water-colour drawing by + Samuel Prout. + + The original drawing, made with a reed pen and flat washes of colour, + was photographed on to the wood block, and the engraver interpreted + the various tints into line. The method is interesting, and the tones + obtained in line show the resources of the engraver's art, an art + rather carelessly set aside in these days. + + This engraving is from _Normandy Picturesque_. (London: Sampson Low & + Co.)] + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [21] In _The Life and Works of Thomas Bewick_, by D. C. Thomson; in + _The Portfolio_, _The Art Journal_, _The Magazine of Art_, and in + _Good Words_, Bewick's merits as artist and engraver have been + exhaustively discussed. + + + + + [Illustration: DESIGN BY WALTER CRANE.] + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE DECORATIVE PAGE. + + +To turn next to the more decorative side of modern illustration, where +design and the _ensemble_ of a printed page are more considered, it is +pleasant to be able to draw attention to the work of an art school, +where an educated and intelligent mind seems to have been the presiding +genius; where the illustrators, whilst they are fully imbued with the +spirit of the past, have taken pains to adapt their methods to modern +requirements. I refer to the Birmingham Municipal School of Art. + + [Illustration: No. XXXVII. + + _Decorative Page_, by A. J. GASKIN. + + (From Hans Andersen's _Fairy Tales_. London: George Allen.) + + This is a good example of the appropriate decoration of a page + without any illustration in the ordinary sense of the word. The + treatment of ornament harmonises well with old-faced type letter. + + The original was drawn in pen and ink, about _the same size_ as the + reproduction. The ground is excellent in colour, almost equal to a + wood engraving. + + This is another example of the possibilities of process, rightly + handled, and also of effect produced _without reduction_ of the + drawing.] + +Whilst using wood engraving freely, the illustrators of Birmingham +(notably Mr. Gaskin), are showing what can be done in line drawing by +the relief processes, to produce colour and ornament which harmonise +well with the letterpress of a book. This seems an important step in the +right direction, and if the work emanating from this school were less, +apparently, confined to an archaic style, to heavy outline and mediæval +ornament (I speak from what I see, not knowing the school personally), +there are possibilities for an extended popularity for those who have +worked under its influence.[22] + +The examples of decorative pages by experienced illustrators like Mr. +Walter Crane and others, will serve to remind us of what some artists +are doing. But the band of illustrators who consider design is much +smaller than it should be, and than it will be in the near future. A +study of the past, if it be only in the pages of mediæval books, will +greatly aid the student of design. In the Appendix I have mentioned a +few fine examples of decorative pages, with and without illustrations, +which may be usefully studied at the British Museum. + + [Illustration: No. XXXVIII.] + +In all these pages, it will be observed, what is called "colour" in +black and white is preserved throughout; showing that a page can be +thoroughly decorative without illustrations to the text. Closely +criticised, some of the old block designs may appear crude and capable +of more skilful treatment, but the pages, as a rule, show the artistic +sense--unmistakably, mysteriously, wonderfully. + +In these and similar pages, such, for instance, as _Le Mer des +Histoires_, produced in Paris by Pierre le Rouge in 1488 (also in the +British Museum), the harmony of line drawing with the printed letters is +interesting and instructive. (_See Appendix._) + +It is in the production of the decorative page that wood engraving +asserts its supremacy still in some quarters, as may be seen in the +beautiful books produced in England during the past few years by Mr. +William Morris, where artist, wood engraver, typefounder, papermaker, +printer, and bookbinder work under the guiding spirit (when not the +actual handwork) of the author. They are interesting to us rather as +exotics; an attempt to reproduce the exact work of the past under modern +conditions, conditions which render the price within reach only of a +few, but they are at least a protest against the modern shams with which +we are all familiar. + +The nineteenth-century author's love for the literature of his past has +led him to imitate not only the style, but the outward aspect of old +books; and by a series of frauds (to which his publisher has lent +himself only too readily) to produce something which appears to be what +it is not. + +The genuine outcome of mediæval thought and style--of patience and +leisure--seems to be treated at the end of the nineteenth century as a +fashion to be imitated in books, such as are to be seen under glass +cases in the British Museum. It is to be feared that the +twentieth-century reader, looking back, will see few traces worth +preserving, either of originality or of individuality in the work of the +present. + +What are the facts? The typefounder of to-day takes down a Venetian +writing-master's copybook of the fifteenth century, and, imitating +exactly the thick downward strokes of the reed pen, forms a set of +movable type, called in printer's language "old face"; a style of letter +much in vogue in 1894, but the style and character of which belongs +altogether to the past. Thus, with such aids, the man of letters of +to-day--living in a whirl of movement and discovery--clothes himself in +the handwriting of the Venetian scholar as deliberately as the +Norwegian dons a bear-skin. + + [Illustration: No. XXXIX. + + DESIGN FOR THE TITLE PAGE OF THE "HOBBY-HORSE." (SELWYN IMAGE.) + + (_This is a reduction by process from a large quarto wood + engraving_.)] + +The next step is to present in his book a series of so-called +"engravings," which are not engravings but reproductions by process of +old prints. The "advance of science" in producing photo-relief blocks +from steel and other _intaglio_ plates for the type printing press, at a +small cost per square inch, is not only taking from the artistic value +of the modern _édition de luxe_, but also from its interest and +genuineness. + +The next step is to manufacture rough-edged, coarse-textured paper, +purporting to be carefully "hand-made." The rough edge, which was a +necessity when every sheet of paper was finished by hand labour, is now +imitated successfully by machinery, and is handled lovingly by the +bookworm of to-day, regardless of the fact that these roughened sheets +can be bought by the pound in Drury-lane. The worst, and last fraud (I +can call it no less) that can be referred to here is, that the +clothing--the "skin of vellum"--that appropriately encloses our modern +_édition de luxe_ is made from pulp, rags, and other _débris_. That the +gold illuminations on the cover are no longer real gold, and that the +handsomely bound book, with its fair margins, cracks in half with a +"bang," when first opened, are other matters connected with the +discoveries of science, and the substitution of machinery for hand +labour, which we owe to modern enterprise and invention.[23] + +Looking at the "decorative pages" in most books, and remembering the +achievements of the past, one is inclined to ask--Is the "setting-out of +a page" one of the lost arts, like the designing of a coin? What harmony +of style do we see in an ordinary book? How many authors or illustrators +of books show that they care for the "look" of a printed page? The fact +is, that the modern author shirks his responsibilities, following the +practice of the greatest writers of our day. There are so many +"facilities"--as they are called--for producing books that the author +takes little interest in the matter. Mr. Ruskin, delicate draughtsman as +he is known to be, has contributed little to the _ensemble_ or +appearance of the pages that flow from the printing press of Mr. Allen, +at Orpington. His books are well printed in the modern manner, but +judged by examples of the past, a deadly monotony pervades the page; +the master's noblest thoughts are printed exactly like his weakest, and +are all drawn out in lines together as in the making of macaroni! Mr. +Hamerton, artist as well as author, is content to describe the beauty of +forest trees, ferns and flowers, the variety of underwood and the like +(nearly every word, in an article in the _Portfolio_, referring to some +picturesque form or graceful line), without indicating the varieties +pictorially on the printed page. The late Lord Tennyson and other poets +have been content for years to sell their song by the line, little +heeding, apparently, in what guise it was given to the world. + +In these days the monotony of uniformity seems to pervade the pages, +alike of great and small, and a letter from a friend is now often +printed by a machine! + + [Illustration] + + [Illustration: No. XL. + + "SCARLET POPPIES." (W. J. MUCKLEY.) + + This beautiful piece of pen work by Mr. Muckley (from his picture in + the Royal Academy, 1885) was too delicate in the finer passages to + reproduce well by any relief process (the pale lines having come out + black); but as an example of breadth, and indication of surfaces in + pen and ink, it could hardly be surpassed.] + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [22] I mention this school as a representative one; there are many + others where design and wood engraving are studied under the same + roof with success in 1894. + + [23] Mr. Cobden Sanderson's lecture on BOOKBINDING, read before the + "Arts and Crafts Society," is well worth the attention of book + lovers. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AUTHOR, ILLUSTRATOR, AND PUBLISHER. + + +Let us now consider shortly the Author, the Illustrator, and the +Publisher, and their influence on the appearance and production of a +book. If it be impossible in these days (and, in spite of the efforts of +Mr. William Morris and others, it seems to be impossible) to produce a +genuine book in all its details, it seems worth considering in what way +the author can stamp it with his own individuality; also to what extent +he is justified in making use of modern appliances. + +How far, then, may the author be said to be responsible for the state of +things just quoted? Theoretically, he is the man of taste and culture +_par excellence_; he is, or should be, in most cases, the arbiter, the +dictator to his publisher, the chooser of style. The book is his, and it +is his business to decide in what form his ideas should become +concrete; the publisher aiding his judgment with experience, governing +the finance, and carrying out details. How comes it then that, with the +present facilities for reproducing anything that the hand can put upon +paper, the latter-day nineteenth-century author is so much in the hands +of others as to the appearance of his book? It is because the so-called +educated man has not been taught to use his hands as the missal-writers +and authors of mediæval times taught themselves to use theirs. The +modern author, who is, say, fifty years old, was born in an age of +"advanced civilisation," when the only method of expression for the +young was one--"pothooks and hangers." The child of ten years old, whose +eye was mentally forming pictures, taking in unconsciously the facts of +perspective and the like, had a pencil tied with string to his two first +fingers until he had mastered the ups and downs, crosses and dashes, of +modern handwriting, which has been accepted by the great, as well as the +little, ones of the earth, as the best medium of communication between +intelligent beings; and so, regardless of style, character, or +picturesqueness, he scribbles away! So much for our generally straggling +style of penmanship. + +There is no doubt that the author of the future will have to come more +into personal contact with the artist than he has been in the habit of +doing, and that the distinction I referred to in the first chapter, +between illustrations which are to be (1) records of facts, and (2) +works of art, will have to be more clearly drawn. + +Amongst the needs in the community of book producers is one that I only +touch upon because it affects the illustrator:--That there should be an +expert in every publishing house to determine (1) whether a drawing is +suitable for publication; and (2) by what means it should be reproduced. +The resources of an establishment will not always admit of such an +arrangement; but the editors and publishers who are informed on these +matters can easily be distinguished by the quality of their +publications. By the substitution of process blocks for wood engravings +in books, publishers are deprived to a great extent of the fostering +care of the master wood engraver, to which they have been accustomed. + +Amongst the influences affecting the illustrator, none, I venture to +say, are more prejudicial than the acceptance by editors and publishers +of inartistic drawings. + +It would be difficult, I think, to point to a period when so much bad +work was produced as at present. The causes have already been pointed +out, the beautiful processes for the reproduction of drawings are +scarcely understood by the majority of artists, publishers, authors, or +critics. It is the _misuse_ of the processes in these hurrying days, +which is dragging our national reputation in the mire and perplexing the +student. + +The modern publisher, it may be said without offence, understands the +manufacture and the commerce of a book better than the art in it. And +how should it be otherwise? The best books that were ever produced, from +an artistic point of view, were inspired and designed by students of art +and letters, men removed from the commercial scramble of life, and to +whom an advertisement was a thing unknown! The ordinary art education of +a publisher, and the multitude of affairs requiring his attention, unfit +him generally, for the task of deciding whether an illustration is good +or bad, or how far--when he cheapens the production of his book by using +photographic illustrations ("snap-shots" from nature)--he is justified +in calling them "art." The deterioration in the character of book +illustration in England is a serious matter, and public attention may +well be drawn to it. + +Here we look for the active co-operation of the author. The far-reaching +spread of education--especially technical art education--is tending to +bring together, as they were never brought before in this century, the +author and the illustrator. The author of a book will give more +attention to the appearance of his pages, to the decorative character of +type and ornament, whilst the average artist will be better educated +from a literary point of view; and, to use a French word for which there +is no equivalent, will be more _en rapport_ with both author and +publisher. + +For the illustrator by profession there seems no artistic leisure; no +time to do anything properly in this connection. + +"It is a poor career, Blackburn," said a well-known newspaper +illustrator to me lately (an artist of distinction and success in his +profession who has practised it for twenty years), "you seldom give +satisfaction--not even to yourself." + +"It is an _ideal career_," says another, a younger man, who is content +with the more slap-dash methods in vogue to-day--and with the income he +receives for them. + +Referring again to the question in the _Athenæum_, "Why is not drawing +for the press taught in our Government schools of art?" I think the +principal reasons why the art of illustration by the processes is not +generally taught in art schools are-- + +(1) drawing for reproduction requires more personal teaching than is +possible in art classes in public schools; (2) the art masters +throughout the country, with very few exceptions, _do not understand the +new processes_--which is not to be wondered at. + +It is not the fault of the masters in our schools of art that students +are taught in most cases as if they were to become painters, when the +only possible career for the majority is that of illustration, or +design. The masters are, for the most part, well and worthily occupied +in giving a good groundwork of knowledge to every student, as to drawing +for the press. There is no question that the best preparation for this +work is the _best general art teaching that can be obtained_. The +student must have drawn from the antique and from life; he must have +learned composition and design; have studied from nature the relative +values of light and shade, aërial perspective and the like; in short, +have followed the routine study for a painter whose first aim should be +to be a master of monochrome. + +In the more technical parts, which the young illustrator by process will +require to know, he needs personal help. He will have a multitude of +questions to ask "somebody" as to the reasons for what he is doing; _for +what style of process work he is by touch and temperament best fitted_, +and so on. All this has to be considered if we are to keep a good +standard of art teaching for illustration. + +The fact that _a pen-and-ink drawing which looks well scarcely ever +reproduces well_, must always be remembered. Many drawings for process, +commended in art schools for good draughtsmanship or design, will not +reproduce as expected, for want of exact knowledge of the requirements +of process; whereas a drawing by a trained hand will often _look better +in the reproduction_. These remarks refer especially to ornament and +design, to architectural drawings and the like. + +The topical illustrator and sketcher in weekly prints has, of course, +more licence, and it matters less what becomes of his lines in their +rapid transit through the press. Still the illustrator, of whatever rank +or style, has a right to complain if his drawing is reproduced on a +scale not intended by him, or by a process for which it is not fitted, +or if printed badly, and with bad materials. + +But the sketchy style of illustration seems to be a little overdone at +present, and--being tolerable only when allied to great ability--remains +consequently in the hands of a few. There is plenty of talent in this +country which is wasted for want of control. It plays about us like +summer lightning when we want the precision and accuracy of the +telegraph. + +The art of colour printing (whether it be by the intaglio processes, or +by chromo-lithography, or on relief blocks) has arrived at such +proficiency and has become such an important industry that it should be +mentioned here. By its means, a beautiful child-face, by Millais, is +scattered over the world by hundreds of thousands; and the reputation of +a young artist, like Kate Greenaway, made and established. The latter +owes much of her prestige and success to the colour-printer. Admitting +the grace, taste, and invention of Kate Greenaway as an illustrator, +there is little doubt that, without the wood engraver and the example +and sympathetic aid of such artists as H. S. Marks, R.A., Walter Crane, +and the late Randolph Caldecott, she would never have received the +praise bestowed upon her by M. Ernest Chesneau, or Mr. Ruskin. These +things show how intimately the arts of reproduction affect reputations, +and how important it is that more sympathy and communication should +exist between all producers. In the mass of illustrated publications +issuing from the press the expert can discern clearly where this +sympathy and knowledge exist, and where ability, on the part of the +artist, has been allied to practical knowledge of the requirements of +illustration. + +The business of many will be to contribute, in some form, to the making +of pictures and designs to be multiplied in the press; and, in order to +learn the technique and obtain employment, some of the most promising +pupils have to fall into the ways of the producers of cheap +illustrations, Christmas cards, and the like. On the other hand, a +knowledge of the mechanical processes for reproducing drawings (as it is +being pressed forward in technical schools) is leading to disastrous +consequences, as may be seen on every railway bookstall in the kingdom. + +In the "book of the future" we hope to see less of the "lath and +plaster" style of illustration, produced from careless wash drawings by +the cheap processes; fewer of the blots upon the page, which the modern +reader seems to take as a matter of course. In books, as in periodicals, +the illustrator by process will have to divest himself, as far as +possible, of that tendency to scratchiness and exaggeration that +injures so many process illustrations. In short, he must be more +careful, and give more thought to the meaning of his lines and washes, +and to the adequate expression of textures. + +There is a great deal yet to learn, for neither artists nor writers have +mastered the subject. Few of our best illustrators have the time or the +inclination to take to the new methods, and, as regards criticism, it is +hardly to be expected that a reviewer who has a pile of illustrated +books to pronounce upon, should know the reason of the failures that he +sees before him. Thus the public is often misled by those who should be +its guides as to the value and importance of the new systems of +illustration.[24] + +In conclusion, let us remember that everyone who cultivates a taste for +artistic beauty in books, be he author, artist, or artificer, may do +something towards relieving the monotony and confusion in style, which +pervades the outward aspect of so many books. It is a far cry from the +work of the missal writer in a monastery to the pages of a modern book, +but the taste and feeling which was shown in the fifteenth and sixteenth +centuries in the production of books, exists in the nineteenth, under +difficult conditions. + +In the "book of the future" the author will help personally, more than +he has ever done, as I have already suggested. The subject is not +half-ventilated yet, nor can I touch upon it further, but the day is not +far distant when the power of the hand of the author will be tested to +the utmost, and lines of all kinds will appear in the text. There is +really no limit to what may be done with modern appliances, if only the +idea is seized with intelligence. + +Two questions, however, remain unanswered--(1) Whether, as a matter of +language and history, we are communicating information to each other +much better than the ancients did in cuneiform inscriptions, on stones +and monuments. (2) Whether, as a matter of illustrative art, we are +making the best use of modern appliances. + +Let us, then, cultivate more systematically the art of drawing for the +press, and treat it as a worthy profession. Let it not be said again, +as it was to me lately by one who has devoted half a lifetime to these +things, "The processes of reproduction are to hand, but where are our +artists?" Let it not be said that the chariot-wheels of the press move +too fast for us--that chemistry and the sun's rays have been utilised +too soon--that, in short, the processes of reproduction have been +perfected before their time! I think not, and that an art--the art of +pictorial expression--which has existed for ages and is now best +understood by the Japanese, may be cultivated amongst us to a more +practical end. + + [Illustration: "TAKE CARE." (W. B. BAIRD.) + + (_Royal Academy, 1891._)] + + +FOOTNOTE: + + [24] There seems but one rule of criticism in this connection. If a + book illustration comes out coarsely and (as is often the case) a + mere smudge, the process is blamed, when the drawing or photograph + may have been quite unsuitable for the process employed. + + + + +STUDENTS' DRAWINGS. + + +The following four examples of drawing from life, by students at +Victoria Street, fresh from art schools, are interesting as tentative +work. The object has been to test their powers and _adaptability for +line work_; avoiding outline in the experiment as much as possible. + +Nos. 1, 3, and 4, it will be observed, evade backgrounds altogether--the +too ready solution of a difficult problem in line. + +These drawings were made direct from life, in line; a system not to be +recommended, excepting as an experiment of powers. + +Examples of students' wash drawings, &c., will appear in future editions +of this book. + + [Illustration: No. XLI. + + "_Spanish Woman_." A Study from Life. + + By INA BIDDER. + + This is a clever sketch with pen and ink and brush, and drawn with a + bold free hand, reproduced on an (untouched) process block. It shows + originality of treatment and courage on the part of the student; also + the value of great reduction to give strength and effect. + + (Size of drawing, 16 × 11-1/2 in.)] + + [Illustration: No. XLII. + + "_Sketch from Life_," by ESTELLE D'AVIGDOR. + + This student was the winner in a prize competition lately in _The + Studio_. She has undoubted ability, but not clearly in the direction + of line drawing. After considerable success in painting, this student + writes: "I still find the pen a difficult instrument to wield." + + In this sketch we see the influence of Aubrey Beardsley and others of + the dense-black, reckless school of modern illustrators. + + (Size of drawing, 10 × 6-3/4 in.) Zinc process.] + + [Illustration: No. XLIII. + + _Sketch from Life_, by G. C. MARKS. + + This pen-and-ink drawing is interesting for colour, especially in the + hair; it would have been better modelled if drawn first in pencil or + chalk. + + This student has an obvious aptitude for line work; the touch is very + good for a beginner. + + (Size of drawing, 10-1/2 × 8 in.) Zinc process.] + + [Illustration: No. XLIV. + + _Bough of Common Furze_, by WILLIAM FRENCH. + + A most careful study from nature in pen and ink. (Size of original + drawing, 14 × 11-1/2 in.) Reproduced by zinc process. + + This artist learned the method of line work for process in a month.] + + + + +CANTOR LECTURES. + + +The ILLUSTRATIONS in this Volume are, for the most part, reproductions +of drawings which--for purposes of study and comparison--are shown by +Mr. Blackburn at his Lectures in Art Schools, enlarged to a scale of 15 +to 20 ft. + +Students who may be unable to attend these lectures can see some of the +original drawings on application (by letter) to "The Secretary, at Mr. +HENRY BLACKBURN'S STUDIO, 123, Victoria Street, Westminster." + + + + +APPENDIX. + + 1. PHOTO-ZINC PROCESS.--2. GELATINE PROCESS.--3. HALF-TONE.--4. + INTAGLIO PROCESSES.--5. DRAWING MATERIALS.--6. BOOKS FOR STUDENTS.--7. + DECORATIVE PAGES.--8. LIST OF PHOTO-ENGRAVERS. + + +PHOTO-ZINC PROCESS. + +FOR THE REPRODUCTION OF LINE DRAWINGS IN RELIEF, SUITABLE FOR PRINTING +AT THE TYPE PRESS. + +DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS.--The first stage is to have the drawing +photographed to the size required, and to transfer a print of it on to a +sensitized zinc plate. This print, or photographic image of the drawing +lying upon the zinc plate, is of greasy substance (bichromate of potash +and gelatine), and is afterwards inked up with a roller; the plate is +then immersed in a bath of nitric acid and ether, which cuts away the +parts which were left white upon the paper, and leaves the lines of the +drawing in relief. This "biting in," as it is called, requires +considerable experience and attention, according to the nature of the +drawing. Thus, the lines are turned into metal in a few hours, and the +plate, when mounted on wood to the height of type-letters, is ready to +be printed from, if necessary, at the rate of several thousands an hour. + +THE COST of these blocks averages 6d. the square inch where a number are +made at one time, the minimum price being 5/-. + +Small book illustrations by this process, by firms who make a specialty +of producing single illustrations, are often charged 9d. the square +inch, with a minimum of 7/6; but the cost should never be more than this +for a single block by the zinc process. + + +GELATINE PROCESS. + +FOR THE REPRODUCTION OF DRAWINGS IN LINE IN RELIEF, SUITABLE FOR +PRINTING AT THE TYPE PRESS. + +This is a more delicate and sensitive method of obtaining a relief +block. It is called the "gelatine," or "Gillot" process. + +The drawing is photographed to the required size (as before), and the +_negative_ laid upon a glass plate (previously coated with a mixture of +gelatine and bichromate of potash). The part of this thin, sensitive +film not exposed to the light is absorbent, and when immersed in water +swells up. The part exposed to the light, _i.e._, the lines of the +drawing, remains near the surface of the glass. Thus we have a sunk +mould from which a metal cast can be taken, leaving the lines in relief +as in the zinc process. In skilful hands this process admits of more +delicate gradations, and pale, uncertain lines can be reproduced with +tolerable fidelity. There is no process yet invented which gives better +results from a pen-and-ink drawing for the type press. + +Reproductions of pencil, chalk, and charcoal are also possible by this +process; but _they are not suited for it_, and there is generally too +much working up by hand on the block to suit rapid printing. These +blocks when completed have a copper surface. The blocks take longer to +make, and are about double the price of the photo-zinc process. THE COST +varies from 9d. to 1/6 the square inch. + +M. Gillot, in Paris, may be said to be the inventor or perfector of this +process, now used by many photo engravers in London, notably by Mr. +Alfred Dawson, of Hogarth Works, Chiswick. + + +HALF-TONE PROCESS. + +FOR THE REPRODUCTION OF WASH DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ETC., BY THE +SCREENED PHOTO-ZINC RELIEF PROCESS. + +This method of making the blocks is more complicated. As there are no +lines in a wash drawing, or in a photograph from nature, or in a +painting, it is necessary to obtain some kind of grain, or interstices +of white, on the zinc plate, as in a mezzotint; so between the drawing +or photograph to be reproduced and the camera, glass screens covered +with lines or dots, are interposed, varying in strength according to the +light and shade required; thus turning the image of the wash drawing or +photograph practically into "line," with sufficient interstices of white +for printing purposes. + +The coarseness or fineness of grain on these blocks varies according to +circumstances. Thus, for rapid printing on cylinder machines, with +inferior paper and ink, a wider grain and a deeper cut block is +necessary. + +The examples in this book may be said to show these process blocks at +their best, with good average printing. The results from wash drawings, +as already pointed out, are uncertain, and generally gloomy and +mechanical-looking. + +The reproductions of pencil, chalk, or charcoal drawings by this process +are generally unsatisfactory, even when printed under good conditions. +The blocks are shallow as compared with the zinc line process, and are +double the cost. + + +INTAGLIO PROCESSES. + +PHOTOGRAVURE, AUTOTYPE, DALLASTYPE, ETC. + +PHOTOGRAVURE.--First, a photographic negative is taken direct from the +picture to be reproduced, and from this an autotype carbon print is +taken and transferred on to glass or silvered copper, instead of on the +paper used in making carbon prints for sale. This picture is in delicate +relief, and forms the mould, upon which copper is electrically +deposited. After being made "conductive," the carbon mould is placed in +a galvanic bath, the deposit of copper upon it taking the impression +perfectly. + +Another method is to transfer the same mould upon pure, clean copper, +and then operate with a powerful biting solution, which is resisted more +or less according to the varying thickness of carbon mould to be +penetrated. Thus the parts to be left smoothest are thick of carbon, and +the parts to be dark are bare, so that the mordant may act unresisted. +This, it will be perceived, is the opposite way to the process above +given, and is therefore worked from a "transparency," or photographic +"positive," instead of a negative. This is the Klick and Fox Talbot +method, and is very commonly in use at present. + +The process of "photogravure" is well known, as employed by Messrs. +Boussod, Valadon, & Co. (Goupil), of Paris, and is adapted for the +reproduction of wash drawings, paintings, also drawings where the lines +are pale and uncertain, pencil, chalk, etc.; the greys and gradations of +pencil being wonderfully interpreted. In London the intaglio processes +are used by many of the firms mentioned on page 240. They are now much +used for the reproduction of photographic portraits in books, taking +place of the copperplate engraving. + +THE COST of these plates is, roughly, 5/- the square inch. The makers of +these plates generally supply paper, and print, charging by the 100 +copies. But engravings thus produced are comparatively little used in +modern book illustration, as they cannot be printed simultaneously with +the letter-press of a book; they are suitable only for limited editions +and "_éditions de luxe_." + + +DRAWING MATERIALS FOR REPRODUCTION. + + 1.--FOR DRAWINGS IN LINE.--For general use, liquid Indian ink and + Bristol board; or hard paper of similar surface. "Clay board," the + surface of which can easily be removed with a scraper, is useful for + some purposes, but the pen touch on clay board is apt to become + mechanical. + + 2.--FOR DRAWINGS IN PENCIL AND CHALK, grained papers are used (see p. + 113 and following). These papers are made of various textures, with + black or white lines and dots vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. As + a matter of fact, grained papers are little used in book and + newspaper illustration in this country, and unless artistically + treated the results are very unsatisfactory. They are most suitable + for landscape work and sketches of effect. + + 3.--FOR WASH DRAWINGS.--Prepared boards for wash drawings, varying in + surface and texture according to the scale of the drawing, the brush + handling of the artist, and the nature of the work to be reproduced. + These must be decided by the teacher. Lamp black and opaque white are + commonly used. A combination of line and wash is generally to be + avoided. + +The materials for drawing for reproduction are to be obtained from the +following amongst other artists' colourmen. + + A. ACKERMAN, 191, Regent Street, W. + + J. BARNARD & SON, 19, Berners Street, W. + + CORNELISSEN & SON, 22, Great Queen Street, W.C. + + LECHERTIER, BARBE, & Co., 60, Regent Street, W. + + JAS. NEWMAN, 24, Soho Square, W. + + REEVES & SONS, 113, Cheapside, E.C. + + CHAS. ROBERSON & CO., 99, Long Acre, W.C. + + GEO. ROWNEY & CO., 64, Oxford Street, W. + + WINSOR & NEWTON, 37, Rathbone Place, W. + + PERCY YOUNG, 137, Gower Street, W.C. + + +BOOKS FOR STUDENTS. + +The following will be found useful:-- + + 1.--"_The Graphic Arts_," by P. G. HAMERTON (London: Macmillan & + Co.). + + 2.--"_Pen and Pencil Artists_," by JOSEPH PENNELL (London: Macmillan + & Co.). + + 3.--"_English Pen Artists of To-Day_," by J. G. HARPER (London: + Rivington, Percival & Co.). + +The value and comprehensive character of Mr. Hamerton's book is well +known, but it reaches into branches of the art of illustration far +beyond the scope of this book. Of the second it may be said that Mr. +Joseph Pennell's book is most valuable to students of "black and white," +with the caution that many of the illustrations in it were _not drawn +for reproduction_, and would not reproduce well by the processes we have +been considering. The third volume seems more practical for elementary +and technical teaching. It is to be regretted that these books are so +costly as to be out of the reach of most of us; but they can be seen in +the library of the South Kensington Museum. + +Mr. Hamerton's "Drawing and Engraving, a Brief Exposition of Technical +Principles and Practice" (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1892), "The +Photographic Reproduction of Drawings," by Col. J. Waterhouse (Kegan, +Paul, & Co., 1890), "Lessons in Art," by Hume Nisbet (Chatto & Windus, +1891), are portable and useful books, full of technical information. Sir +Henry Trueman Wood's "Modern Methods of Illustrating Books," and Mr. H. +R. Robertson's "Pen and Ink Drawing" (Winsor & Newton) are both +excellent little manuals, but their dates are 1886. + + +DECORATIVE PAGES. + + (FROM OLD MSS. AND BOOKS TO BE SEEN IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.) + + (_Reprinted from the Cantor Lectures_.) + +1. "Example of early Venetian writing, from a copybook of the 15th +century, written with a reed pen. Note the clearness and picturesqueness +of the page; also the similarity to the type letters used to-day--what +are called 'old face,' and of much (good and bad) letter in modern +books." + +2. "A beautiful example of Gothic writing and ornament, from a French +illuminated manuscript in the British Museum; date 1480. Here the +decorative character and general balance of the page is delightful to +modern eyes." + +3. "_Fac-simile_ of a printed page, from Polydore Vergil's "History of +England," produced in Basle, in 1556. The style of type is again +familiar to us in books published in 1894; but the setting out of the +page, the treatment of ornament (with little figures introduced, but +subservient to the general effect), is not familiar, because it is +seldom that we see a modern decorative page. The printer of the past had +a sense of beauty, and of the fitness of things apparently denied to all +but a few to-day." + +4. "An illuminated printed page, 1521, with engraved borders, after +designs by Holbein; figures again subordinate to the general effect." + +5. "Examples of Italian, 14th century; ornament, initial, and letters +forming a brilliant and harmonious combination." + +ILLUSTRATIONS of the above and other decorative pages (which could not +be reproduced in this book) are shown at the lectures on a large scale. + +Of the many modern books on decoration and ornament, the handbooks by +Mr. Lewis Foreman Day (London: Batsford) are recommended to students of +"the decorative page"; also "_English Book Plates_," by Egerton Castle +(G. Bell & Sons). + + +LIST OF PROCESS BLOCK MAKERS. + +From a long list of photo-engravers, the following are mentioned from +personal knowledge of their work:-- + +RELIEF BLOCKS. + + ANDRÉ & SLEIGH, Bushey, Herts. + + THE ART REPRODUCTION COMPANY, Clairville Grove, South Kensington. + + MR. DALLAS, 5, Furnival Street, E.C. + + A. & C. DAWSON, Hogarth Works, Chiswick. + + DELLAGANA & CO., Gayton Road, Hampstead, N.W. + + DIRECT PHOTOGRAPHIC COMPANY, 38, Farringdon Street, E.C. + + HARE & SONS, LTD., Bride Court, Fleet Street. + + CARL HENTSCHEL, 182, Fleet Street, E.C. + + CHAS. GEARD (Agent for Krakow), MacLean's Bldgs., New St. Sq., E.C. + + MEISENBACH CO., Ltd., Wolfington Road, West Norwood, S.E. + + JOHN SWAIN & SON, 58, Farringdon Street, E.C. + + SWAN ELECTRIC LIGHT CO., 114, Charing Cross Road, W.C. + + TYPOGRAPHIC ETCHING CO., 3, Ludgate Circus Buildings, E.C. + + WALKER & BOUTALL, Clifford's Inn, Fleet Street, E.C. + + WATERLOW & SONS, Ltd., London Wall, E.C. + + VINCENT & HAHN, 34, Barbican, E.C. + +INTAGLIO. + +Several of the firms mentioned above are makers of "Intaglio" plates; +some are also wood-engravers, photo-lithographers, etc.; and agents for +French, German, and Austrian photo-engravers. + +Amongst leading firms who make "Intaglio" plates are Messrs. Boussod, +Valadon, & Co. (London and Paris); and Messrs. Angerer & Göschl, of +Vienna. + +The Autotype Company's admirable reproductions of photographs and +drawings should also be mentioned in this connection. + + + + +"Black and White." + +NOTICE.--MR. HENRY BLACKBURN'S STUDIO is open five days a week for the +Study and Practice of DRAWING FOR THE PRESS with Technical Assistants. +Students join at any time. + + * * * * * + + _Private Instruction and by Correspondence._ + + 123, VICTORIA STREET, WESTMINSTER (_near Army & Navy stores_). + + + + +OPINIONS OF THE PRESS + +On the First Edition. + + +"'The Art of Illustration' is a brightly written account, by a man who +has had large experience of the ways in which books and newspapers are +illustrated nowadays.... As a collection of typical illustrations by +artists of the day, Mr. Blackburn's book is very attractive."--_The +Times._ + +"Mr. Blackburn explains the processes--line, half-tone, and so +forth--exemplifying each by the drawings of artists more or less skilled +in the modern work of illustration. They are well chosen as a whole, to +show the possibilities of process work in trained hands."--_Saturday +Review._ + +"We thoroughly commend this book to all whom it may +concern."--_Athenæum._ + +"Mr. Henry Blackburn, perhaps our greatest expert on the subject of the +book illustrator's art, has written a most interesting volume, which no +young black-and-white artist can very well afford to do without. Nearly +a hundred splendid and instructive illustrations."--_Black and White._ + +"The author's purpose in this book is to show how drawing for the press +may be best adapted to its purpose.... Many of Mr. Blackburn's +instructions are technical, but all are beautifully illustrated by +choice reproductions from some of the best black-and-white work of the +time."--_Daily News._ + +"Mr. Blackburn's interesting and practical manual is designed, in the +first instance, for the guidance of students who intend to become +illustrators in black-and-white, but for the general reader it contains +a large quantity of readable and attractive matter."--_The Literary +World._ + +"We must express our admiration for the contents of 'The Art of +Illustration,' and its fund of technical information."--_Bookseller._ + +"The book is full of interest, containing close upon a hundred varied +examples of illustrations of the day. A work of unquestionable +value."--_Publishers' Circular._ + +"Mr. Blackburn knows from experience what is best for the processes; his +volume is illustrated with nearly one hundred drawings, most of them +good examples of what is being done. 'The Art of Illustration' is an +entirely safe guide."--_Art Journal._ + +"Mr. Henry Blackburn has written an able book on 'The Art of +Illustration,' which, it is not overpraise to say, should be in the +hands of every artist who draws for reproduction."--_The Gentlewoman._ + +"'The Art of Illustration' is perhaps the most satisfactory work of art +of its kind that has yet been published."--_Sunday Times._ + +"A very clear exposition of the various methods of +reproduction."--_Guardian._ + +"Mr. Blackburn sails his book under the flag of Sir John Gilbert, and +justly expounds the all-importance of line."--_National Observer._ + +"'The Art of Illustration' contains a vast amount of valuable artistic +information, and should be on every student's bookshelf."--_Court +Circular._ + +"Mr. Henry Blackburn is a well-known authority on the technical aspects +of painting and design, and this circumstance lends value to his +exposition of 'The Art of Illustration.'... He writes with admirable +clearness and force."--_Leeds Mercury._ + +"The excellent series of reproductions in this book show (_inter alia_) +the variety of effects to be obtained by the common zinc process. Mr. +Blackburn's book will prove of great value to the student and interest +to the general reader."--_Manchester Guardian._ + +"This volume is full of good criticism, and takes a survey of the many +processes by which books may be beautified.... A charming and +instructive volume."--_Birmingham Gazette._ + +"'The Art of Illustration' will have the deepest interest for artists +and others concerned in the illustration of books."--_Yorkshire Post._ + +"A very interesting quarto, worth having for its typical +illustrations."--_British Architect._ + +"Mr. Blackburn's volume should be very welcome to artists, editors, and +publishers."--_The Artist._ + +"A most useful book."--_Studio._ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Art of Illustration, by Henry Blackburn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF ILLUSTRATION *** + +***** This file should be named 32320-8.txt or 32320-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/2/32320/ + +Produced by Marius Masi, Chris Curnow and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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