Naturalistic Photography for Students of the Art.

by P. H. Emerson

Pen and ink.

Pen and Ink.—The scale in this case is also limited and there can be no tone, but an artist, by shading can give an impression of tone, as can be seen in the clever drawings by an artist in the “German Punch.” Of course, as in lead pencil drawings, all subtle tonality is left out, the lightest tones being lost in white, and the darkest in black, but the suggestion may be a truthful impression if well done, and in such cases the work commands the greatest respect, ranking far higher than inferior work done with a more perfect technique. Sometimes washes are added to pen-and-ink drawings to increase the impression of tone. Here, again, the bad craftsman goes beyond the legitimate limits of the art, by the pen-rendering detail, and by the wash-rendering tone, impossibilities except in monochrome work. We have seen some detestable hybrids of this class, the result of the misspent energies of amateurs and others.

Chalk.

Chalk.—This gives the artist greater scope, for his scale is greater, and, in addition, chalk is not shiny and unnatural. This material is generally used for large work, and is better suited to that purpose, for the line is not so regular and has more of the decision and indecision of a natural outline as seen in a figure standing against a background. By choosing an appropriately colored chalk an artist can give a potent suggestion of texture, and, therefore, of truthfulness. Chalk was formerly much used for studies, but charcoal has now largely taken its place.

Lithography.

Lithography.—In this art a peculiar stone is chosen, which has an affinity for water and grease. The stone is drawn upon with a greasy, specially prepared lithographic ink. From this many copies can be taken. For reproducing chalk drawings the method is worked a little differently. It is of little use now for original work, on account of the introduction of the cheaper, more certain, and more beautiful photographic processes. We are all only too well acquainted with the outcome of this process of lithography, chromo-lithographs,—monstrosities which, it is needless to say, do not enter into the category of the fine arts. Chromo-lithography, however, has a commercial value, being very useful in the reproduction of patterns, &c.

Line engraving.

Engraving.—This is drawing on metal with a burin in a special manner; that is by pushing the burin away from the operator. Considerable pressure must be exerted[exerted]; and it is evident that lines cut in this way must be formal. It is, perhaps, for this reason that it is scarcely ever used for original work, but only for copying. The scale in this case is limited between the black ink and white paper, and is greater than in the arts above dealt with; but there can be no subtleties of tone. Engravers supply this suggestion of tone by cross-hatching, and so suggest a natural impression, as can be seen in some of the landscapes engraved from nature by Albert Durer. Personally we are but very little interested in engraving apart from its historical interest. Artistically, the early work of Durer, and some of that of the so-called “little masters” is, in our opinion, the best ever done. All the work—and there is much of it—which has overstepped the narrow limits of the art of line engraving is to us distasteful, because it could have been so much better expressed by other methods. Engraving with a burin, even when assisted by dry point work, is always hard, formal, textureless, and without tonal subtlety; while the quality of modern engravings, by which popular editions of well-known authors are illustrated, is to us positively unpleasing and false. There is at the present day a vigorous attempt to bolster up engraving, and give it a fictitious value, but we feel sure it is doomed. Such a narrow, limited, untrue method of expression could never live beyond the day of necessity, when there was no better mode of expression. That day is already past, as there exist more complete methods. A good pen-and-ink work by Du Maurier is, artistically, far better than any engraving Cousins ever did; and as for the fearful travesties exposed for sale in dealer’s windows, we can only wonder who buys them. Perhaps the same mild imbeciles who collect “old engravings” promiscuously, not for any art qualities they possess, for the best of them are bad in many ways, but in order to collect, and appear learned (?) and artistic (?) to their less gifted (in purse) brethren. Of all the painters and sculptors we have known, we have never found one really interested in the class of engravings we are now describing.

Stippling, or engraving in dots, seems to us a yet worse device than cross-hatching. It is done with prepared needles, or a toothed wheel called a roulette. Stippling was by Bartolozzi and others combined with etching, and a hybrid was produced which, like all hybrids, was doomed to extinction.

As compared with photo-etching for the reproduction of pictures, no one but a fanatic would maintain its superiority. By using orthochromatic plates relatively, true values or tone, and true texture can be rendered, and no translator steps in to add to, or subtract from, the originality of the work. The student will soon find as he studies nature and the best art together, that line engraving is but a sorry method, its artificiality will soon disgust him, and no one with any real insight into the mysteries of nature can derive much pleasure from engravings, except, perhaps, from some of the best of the simple line engravings, such as some of Durer’s works.