-~-v
MODERN
ETCHINGS
MEZZOTINTS
AND DRY-POINTS
iu\ -x^
EDITED BY CHARLES HOLME
MCMXIII
THE STUDIO" LTD.
LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK
55
o'
o
PREFATORY NOTE
The Editor desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to the various
artists who have kindly lent proofs of their plates for reproduction in
this volume. Also to the following publishers who have courteously
allowed their copyright subjects to appear amongst the illustrations :
Messrs. Colnaghi & Obach ; Messrs. Jas. Connell & Sons ; Messrs.
Dowdeswell & Dowdeswells, Ltd.; Mr. Robert Dunthorne ; The
Pine Art Society, Ltd. ; The Gesellschaft fiir Vervielfaltigende
Kunst, Vienna ; Mr. R. Gutekunst ; Mr. W. H. Meeson ; M. Ed.
Sagot ; and Messrs. E. J. van Wisselingh & Co.
A 2 111
327956
ARTICLES
Great Britain. By Malcolm C. Salaman
America. By E. A. Taylor
France. By E. A. Taylor
Holland. By Ph. Zilcken
Austria. By A. S. Levetus
Germany. By L. Deubner
Sweden. By Thorsten Laurin
PAGES
3
107
159
193
219
245
263
LIST OF ARTISTS
GREAT BRITAIN
Brangwyn, Frank, A.R.A., R.E.
Bush, Reginald, E. J., A.R.E.
Cameron, D.Y., A.R.A., A.R.S.A
Dawson, Nelson, A.R.E.
East, Sir Alfred, A.R.A., P.R.B.A
Fisher, A. Hugh, A.R.E.
Fitton, Hedley, R.E. .
Frood, Hester
Gaskell, Percival, R.E., R.B.A.
Giles, William
Haigh, Axel H., R.E.
Hankey, W. Lee, R.E.
Hardie, Martin, A.R.E.
Hartley, Alfred, R.E. .
Hole, William, R.S.A., R.E
Holroyd, Sir Charles, R.E.
Howarth, Albany E., A.R.E
James, Hon. Walter J., R.E
Lancaster, Percy, A.R.E.
Lee, Sydney, A.R.E. .
Mackenzie, J. Hamilton, A.R.E.
McBey, James
Marriott, F., A.R.E. .
R.
13, 14, 15, 16, 17
19, 20
21, 23
25, 26
27, 28, 29
31. 32
33' 34
41, 42
35. 37' 38
• 39
43' 45' 46
47' 48
52, 53
49' 51
• 54
55^ 57
58, 59' 61
63, 64
. 65
. 66
69, 70
. 67
• 71
\
LIST OF ARTISTS
PAGES
Monk, William, R.E. 72, 73
Ness, John A., A. R.E.
IS
Osborne, Malcolm, R.E.
. 76
Pott, Constance M., R.E. .
/
Robertson, Percy, R.E,
. 82
Robinson, Sir J. C, C.B., R.E., F.S.A.
79, 81
Roussel, Theodore
83, 84
Short, Sir Frank, R.A., P.R.E. .
'.85,
87, 88, 89, 91, 92
Spence, Robert, R.E. .
. . . 96
Strang, William, A.R.A.
93. 95
Taylor, Luke, R.E. .
• 97
Turrell, Arthur, J.
. 98
Walker, William
99, lOI
Waterson, David, R.E.
102, 103
Watson, Chas. J., R.E.
104
AMERICA
Armington, Caroline H. . . . . . . .114
Armington, Frank M.
.113
Coover, Nell
. 115
Covey, Arthur
. 116
Dahlgreen, Chas. W. .
/
. 117
Gleeson, C. K. .
. 119
Hornby, Lester G.
120, 121, 122
Hyde, Helen
• 123
Jaques, Bertha E.
125, 126
King, Charles B.
. 127
Koopman, Augustus
. 128
MacLaughlan, D. Shaw
. 129, 131
Marin, John
132, 133' 134
Nordfeldt, B. J. .
• 135
Partridge, G. Roy
. 136, 137
Pennell, Joseph .
138, 139. 141
Pitts, Lendall
142, 143, 145
Plowman, George T. .
• 147
VI
LIST OF ARTISTS
PAGES
Raymond, F. W.
• .
. 148
Reed, Earl H. .
. 149
Rosenfield, Lester
150
Sawyer, Phil
. 151
Schneider, Otto J.
. 152, 153
Webster, Herman A. .
. 155, 156
FRANCE
1
Achener, M.
• • •
. 161
Beaufrere, A.
,
•
162
Bejot, Eug., R.E.
163, 164
Beurdeley, Jacques
. 165, 167
Bracquemond, Felix
168
Chahine, Edgar .
169
Dauchez, Andre
170
De Latcnay, G.
. 171, 173
Feau, A.
. . . .174
Gobo, G. .
. 175, 176
Heyman, Ch.
. 177' 178
Leheutre, G.
. 179
Lepere, A. .
180, 181, 183
Roux, Marcel
. 184
Steinlen, T. A. .
. 186, 187, 189
Villon, Jacques .
..... 185
HOLLAN]
D
Bauer, M. A. J. .
. . •
195, 196, 197, 199
Derkzen van Angeren,
Anton
201, 202, 203
Houten, Barbara van
.
. 204
Storm van 's Gravesanc
ic, Ch.
205, 207, 208
Witsen, W.
• •
209, 21 1, 212
Zilcken, Ph.
.
. 213,215,216
A
^
vii
LIST OF ARTISTS
AUSTRIA
PAGES
Horovitz, Armin
. 221
Jettmar, Rudolf .
. 223, 224
Kasimir, Luigi .
225, 226
Lusy, Marino M.
227, 228, 229
Michalek, Ludwig
. . 230,231
PoUak, Max
. 232, 233, 234
Schmutzer, Ferdinand
• 237, 239
Simon, T. F.
• 235
Svabinsky, Max .
GERMANY
. 240, 241
Geiger, Willi
. 247
Halm, Prof. Peter
. 248
Jahn, Georg
. 249,250
Kolb, Prof. Alois
• 251,253
Meyer-Basel, C. Th. .
• 254
Uhl, Joseph
• 255,256
Vogeler, Heinrich
SWEDEN
. 257, 259
Boberg, Ferdinand
265, 266
Burmeister, Gabriel
. 269
Eugen, Prince
. 267
Larsson, Carl
. 270
Norlind, Ernst
271, 272
Sparre, Count Louis
. 273, 274
Zorn, Anders L.
275» 277, 278, 279
vm
GREAT BRITAIN
GREAT BRITAIN. By Malcolm C.
Salaman.
WHEN, long ago, James McNeill Whistler argued it
" no reproach to the most finished scholar or greatest
gentleman in the land that in his heart he prefer the
popular print to the scratch of Rembrandt's needle " —
if he will " have but the wit to say so" — the etcher's art
was still somewhat " caviare to the general." But its extraordinary
efflorescence in recent years, due, beyond question, primarily to the
influence of Whistler's own sovereign example, has widened the
public appreciation and encouragement of original etching to an
extent never previously known. For one artist using this vivacious
form of pictorial expression in the years when the master was
astonishing the art-world with the fresh outlook and artistic
originality of his exquisite Venice etchings there are perhaps fifty
scratching their visions upon the copper-plate to-day.
Pondering this fact recently I chanced to find, in a drawer I was
clearing of old letters, a telegram, dated May 1886. It was from
Whistler himself. " Come to The Vale to-day, important." What
the important matter was I forget entirely. To Whistler everything
was of importance that bore any relation to his life's work ; and his
messages were always urgent to any of the few who, wielding the
pen in those days, were enthusiastically in sympathy with his art,
and, in defiance of popular prejudice and the ridicule and contempt
of academic criticism — almost incredible to-day — were proclaiming
him the supreme artist among his contemporaries — a master sure of
immortality. But this particular message had for me an accidental
import that I can never forget. It led to my seeing Whistler, the
greatest etcher since Rembrandt, and consequently one of the two
greatest of all time, actually handling his etching-needle upon a
copper-plate. Unable, I remember, to answer his summons on the
instant, when at length I reached his house in The Vale, Chelsea —
a countrified old house, decorated within partly in " tender tones of
orpiment " and partly in two shades of green ; all vanished now,
with no sign remaining but a portion of the delightful wilderness of
an old garden — I learned that he had left word for me to follow him
to a certain butcher's shop at the far end of the King's Road. There
I found him sitting at the window of a front room over the shop,
holding his copper-plate, resting on his knee, and drawing delicately
with his needle's point on the wax ground the fruit and vegetable shop
across the road. Whether it was the plate known as T. A. NasJis
Fruit S/iop, or the one with the two women in the doorway, I can not
now remember — I did not see the plate after it was bitten, and
3
GREAT BRITAIN
on the only occasion when I was privileged to sec Whistler print,
and even turn the handle of his press for him, the fruit-shop was not
one of the plates — but the picture of the great artist sitting there, in
that little room, his long, thin, sensitive hand scratching those magic
lines of his upon the plate, is impressed upon my brain as indelibly
as if Whistler himself had etched it there. And behind this vivid
memory — of more than twenty-six years ago — is the thought that
what I was then witnessing was the actual expression of that master-
ful genius which, having given new life to the etcher's art, was still
with exquisite and ever alert vision enriching its traditions with fresh
refinements of suggestion and selection, while preserving in its purity
the true etcher's inalienable heritage of Rembrandt's line.
To the extraordinary activity and diversity of present-day
British etchers influences other than Whistler's have, of course,
conduced ; a wider knowledge of Meryon, the delightful art and
masterful leadership of Seymour Haden, the austere classic beauty
of Alphonse Legros' graphic expression, the more extended study or
Rembrandt, the example of Mr. D. Y. Cameron's well-earned yet
remarkable success, the writings of P. G. Hamerton and Sir Frederick
Wedmore, and, in no small measure, the constant teaching of the
purest principles of the etcher's craft by the most masterly living
exponent of the whole science and art of engraving, Sir Frank Short.
It is with the living that we are now concerned, the purpose
of the present volume being to offer a comprehensive survey of
contemporary expression upon the metal-plate, whether through
the medium of the etched, or acid-bitten, line ; or the etched tone,
which is aquatint ; or dry-point, which is the furry line scratched direct
upon the metal ; or mezzotint, which is the scraping of the entirely
roughened plate to evolve out of darkness, through the subtleties
of light and tone, form. Each of these mediums the distinguished
President of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers
uses with full command of its artistic capacity, recognising surely
the appeal of his subject for the appropriate method, and expressing
its pictorial essentials in terms of that method and no other. Happily
we are able to demonstrate this with reproductions of six repre-
sentative plates of Sir Frank Short's, from which it will be seen that
none better than he appreciates the truth of Walter Pater's dictum :
" Each art, having its own peculiar and untranslatable sensuous
charm, has its own special mode of reaching the imagination, its
own special responsibilities to its material." Here, for instance, is an
etching. Strand Gate, Winchelsea, in which the pictorial interest of
that wide expanse of flat country, with the river that " winds
somewhere safe to sea," stretching away from the massive gateway
4
GREAT BRITAIN
in the foreground, all bathed in the sunny atmosphere of a hot
summer afternoon, is completely suggested with a rich economy of
selected lines and expressive spaces and harmoniously balanced tones,
producing a result as masterly as the famous Qo id-weigher s Field of
Rembrandt. Here is the etcher of those charmingly individual
plates, how 'Tide and tiie Evening Star, Sleeping till the Flood, The
Street — Whitstable, in the same distinctive mood of spacious vision
and eloquent reticence, giving to each line its full value of suggestion,
and revelling in delicate gradations of bitten lines. When, howrever,
he looks across the Thames at Sion House, and sees in the vibrant
sunlight that noble clump of trees casting deep shadow^s upon the
flowing waters, he feels doubtless that the black velvety tones which
they present to his pictorial imagination call for the rich burred
quality of line which only the dry-point gives.
Again, when his subject offers poetic contrasts of light and
shadow that would seem to be more adequately interpreted by
gradations of full tone. Sir Frank resorts with certain mastery to
either aquatint or mezzotint, as the most subtle distinctions of light
shall determine. Both of these mediums owe to him their modern
revival, and a development of their resources for the most sensitive
interpretation of all the poetry of landscape under every passing
influence of light and atmosphere, beyond the practice of even the
engravers that Turner directed. See how incomparably he uses pure
aquatint. Here, for instance, in Dawn, is a masterpiece of atmo-
spheric treatment such as the old English aquatinters, with their
charmingly picturesque views of landscape, could never have achieved,
though even a Daniell came to judgment. Sir Frank shows us, with
a magic command of tones, all the beauty and mystery of that hour
when the " breaths of kissing night and day are mingled in the
eastern heaven." A simple piece of Kentish common-land is here
transfigured by the artist's imaginative vision, " When dusk shrunk
cold, and light trod shy, and dawn's grey eyes were troubled grey."
Sir Frank has produced these beautiful tone gradations by working
his acid through a dust-ground, as he did in his lovely plates Silver
Tide and Sunrise o'er Whitby Scaur, and the splendid Span of Old
'Battersea "Bridge. But so extraordinarily sensitive is Sir Frank in his
craftmanship that, when his subject demands a special luminosity, as
does the sunny Thames at Twickenham, he uses the spirit-ground with
a richness that Paul Sandby, its inventor, can hardly have dreamed
of, and, what is particularly remarkable, he does not accentuate these
tree-forms with a single etched line.
His revival and mastery of mezzotint, however, is the chief
jewel in Sir Frank Short's artistic crown, and one may trust that the
5
GREAT BRITAIN
two examples given here of his original expression in that beautiful
medium will suggest to collectors that they should be content with
his numerous matchless interpretative plates, notably after Turner,
Constable, De Windt, and Crome, and call for more of his own
conceptions. His pictorial imagination has been nobly stirred in
The Sun went down in his Wrath, in which, as in The Lifting Cloud,
he has shown " how the clouds arise, spumed of the wild sea-
snortings." This is pure mezzotint — here it is shown in a trial
proof after the second scraping — and the drawing of these wave-
forms without the definition of the etched line is a remarkable
technical achievement. In the beautiful Solway Fishers, however, it
will be seen that, although the light clouds floating in their pale
expanse of summer sky, and the multitudinous tones, in light and
shadow, of the spacious foreshore and distant hills across the Forth,
are evolved with the scraper alone, a certain accent of structural
outline is due to preliminary etching, a legitimate aid to mezzotint
used by Turner in the "Liber Studiorum " plates, and by all the
famous mezzotinters of the eighteenth century.
While Sir Frank Short, in his practice and teaching, is the
champion of the pure technique and great traditions of the etcher's
art, Mr. Frank Brangwyn, in striking contrast, is a law unto himself,
and, in defiance of all the traditions handed on by the masters, he
pursues his own robustly independent decorative and pictorial way upon
the metal, answerable only to his own masterful genius. For others
the special charm of etching, the tone-suggestion of line, the balanced
strength and delicacy of " biting," the intimacy of the print itself ; for
Mr. Brangwyn, first and foremost, the vitality of the great decorative
design, the splendid, forcible contrasts of fierce glowing lights and
darkest shadows, the expressive significance of the thing he imagines.
For his material he may choose the zinc plate, and it shall be of
inordinate size if his large decorative design would seem to demand
it, so that his print shall hang upon the wall a majestic work of art.
No responsibility to the etcher's medium appears to influence
Mr. Brangwyn, the responsibility he feels is to his own artistic
conception, and its need of spacious, vigorous, and impressive
expression. So the " true etched line " of Rembrandt does not bind
him, the " finest possible point " of Whistler pricks not his artistic
conscience ; but his point, his line, shall be related in breadth and
strength to the extraordinary surface he chooses to work upon>
while, for the tones he wants, he will actually paint his plate with ink,
so that he produces his desired pictorial effect. Is he not a Painter-
Etcher ? If one may feel that these wonderful conceptions of
Mr. Brangwyn's, always so splendid and masterly in design, might
6
GREAT BRITAIN
have found, perhaps, even more vital and spontaneous utterance
upon the stone, vs^ith the gloriously rich blacks possible to litho-
graphy, it may be answered that, since the artist has chosen to
employ the etcher's method instead of the lithographer's, he justifies
his independent manner of using it by the decorative and dramatic
impressiveness of his prints. The five examples reproduced here
are, I think, fairly representative. I^reaking-up of the '''■Duncan" is
a subject after Mr. Brangwyn's own heart. How weirdly tragic the
effect of those mighty cranes, engines, as it were, of a destroying
fate, reaching over the pathetic old hulk to aid and urge the ghouls
of labour in their work of demolition ! And of what infinite value
they are to the design ! Dramatic human interest is vital in this, as in
aA Gate of Naples^, with its bustling crowds beside its great solemn
towering stones, and ay^ Mosque — Constantinople, nobly beautiful in the
design evolved from the architectural disposition of lines and curves
seen in vivid chiaroscuro, with its hurrying groups of people excited by
the terror of the fire. Design again, elaborate and of wonderful origin-
ality, in The Crucifixion helpfully controls the dramatic vitality of this
new picturing of a scene that Rembrandt himself has rendered perhaps
not more humanly, though for solemn grandeur of impression The
Three Crosses, done in 1653, is still unsurpassed among the great
etchings of the world. Lastly, in The Bridge of ^Alcantara — Sicily,
we have Mr. Brangwyn in a landscape mood of romantic solemnity,
yet the unity of impression achieved in this large simplicity of
design is no more than that we find in the most elaborate of his
great compositions. And the " informing expression of passing
light " here suggests one of those dreary regions in which there is
no quiet nor silence, such as Poe would have revelled in. The lover
of etching for its own delightful sake may hate Mr. Brangwyn's
vast prints, but they grip one's imagination with their splendid
pictorial qualities. And this must be so, whatever the medium this
great artist elects to adapt to the needs of his own energy of
expression.
Of a masterful independence is also Sir Alfred East's way as an
etcher, unable he, seemingly, to forget that he is painter first and
etcher afterwards. And as a painter of landscape his way has been
always his own, his temperament romantic, his vision absolutely in-
dividual, and ever on the side of the poets. So, when he uses the
metal plate and the acid to interpret his conceptions, he obtains his
painter's effects with a bold and forcible technique that bears little
relation to the accepted conventions of the etcher. But he gets the
effects he wants, and his prints appeal by reason of their vigorous
pictorial expressiveness and decorative qualities. In Evening Glow,
7
GREAT BRITAIN
with those very living trees silhouetted in engaging pattern against
that glowing sky, one feels the beautiful romantic spirit of the hour ;
but if Whistler could come back from the shades to hold the print in
his hands and examine the manner of its doing, he would surely ex-
claim " Amazing ! " for I doubt if etcher ever before wrought his
black tones in such rough wise. The White Mill is, in another way, a
painter's handling of tone, while The Avenue^ a charmingly decorative
composition characteristically poetic in feeling, has for me a greater
artistic significance, and I earnestly hope Sir Alfred will not carry it
beyond its " First State."
Now let us turn to some of the essential etchers, that is to say,
those graphic artists who, conceiving their subjects within the just
limitations of the etcher's art, seek to express their pictorial visions
in the true terms of their chosen medium, content with its special
quality of beauty. First, then, to that fine artist, Mr. D. Y. Cameron,
one of the greatest living masters of etching, whose best plates,
veritable masterpieces some of them, have now become prizes most
eagerly sought by the connoisseurs of two continents. Of his imagina-
tive rendering of building or of landscape one may say, as Pater said
with happy intuition of a Legros landscape etching, that it is "in-
formed by an indwelling solemnity of expression, seen upon it or
half seen, within the limits of an exceptional moment, or caught
from his own mood perhaps, but which he maintains as the very
essence of the thing throughout his work." Just as a Keats will call
up haunting mental pictures with the natural magic of words,
Mr. Cameron's unfailing eye for the pictorially harmonious contrast
of mellow light and brooding shadow can imbue with romantic
mystery that haunts one's imagination the old street or storied building,
as well as the hills and waters of his native Scotland. But he is
not represented in the present volume by such classics of the etcher's
art as his solemnly beautiful vision of The Five Sisters, that stained-
glass glory of York Minster, or his noble St. Laumer — Blois, or the
enchanting Ca d'Oro, or the impressive Sienna, Loches, or Chinon, or
that later bit of sombrely lovely Highland landscape, Ben Ledi,
rendered, with all its poetic spirit, richly in dry-point. Here, in
The Chimera of aAmiens, Mr. Cameron is seen in one of his latest
moods, picturing with a great etcher's true economy of line and
balance of tone, the line delicately bitten, the tone strengthened with
dry-point, that grim and fearsome gargoyle looking hungrily from
a parapet of Amiens Cathedral over the city's houses and the distant
plains. Extraordinarily fascinating in design, this is a plate that grows
upon one. Here, in its oval, it is in what Mr. Cameron calls its second
state, though Mr. Frank Kinder, cataloguing more recently than
8
GREAT BRITAIN
Sir Frederick Wedmore, calls it, I think, the fourth ; the first was
square and showed more of the building. The head of Rameses II.
in etched line touched with dry-point, done from an alabaster frag-
ment in Cairo, illustrates also a recent etching-mood of Mr. Cameron's
— a feeling for severe design.
A regrettable absentee from this volume is Mr. Cameron's
distinguished countryman, Mr. Muirhead Bone, now recognised the
world over as a master of the copper-plate, whose zAyr Prison^ 'Suilding^
The Great Qantry^ 'The Shot Tower, Liberty's Clock, are surely among
the greatest things of dry-point. That other eminent Scotch etcher,
however, Mr. William Strang, now among the veterans of the craft,
and one of the most expert, prolific, and versatile, is here represented,
though not, perhaps, at his high-water mark. This is reached when,
with etching-needle or dry-point, he probes the living personality, and
interprets, with extraordinary truth of insight and vitality of expres-
sion, the very inwardness of his subject, especially when there is
interesting character to observe. His etched portraits reveal his
true genius, and some of them are among the masterpieces of their
kind. But Mr. Strang has a pictorial imagination of amazing energy
and inventiveness, stimulated by a wide range of subject, in which
human interest happily plays a part more than usual in the etching-
subject of to-day. And if in The Fisherman he seems to have gone for
a decorative beauty of composition which allows little scope for the
expression of his own individuality, in Comfort, a more characteristic
dry-point, we find implicit that same simple virile human sympathy
which, years ago, Mr. Strang revealed in those expressive etchings
illustrating Burns, that are among the best things he ever did.
Scotland would seem to be, in very truth, the Magnetic North,
for the needle points to it in no uncertain fashion, so many of our
prominent etchers being Scotsmen. We have just named three of the
most eminent, and here is yet another, a new-comer, worthy to be of
their company. This is Mr. James McBey, that entirely self-taught
young artist, who, while he was a bank-clerk in Aberdeen, found out
for himself the craft of etching, practised it with an expediency of
his own, made himself a printing-press out of an old mangle, and
came, absolutely unknown, to London a little more than a year ago,
bringing with him no introductions but his copper-plates and a set of
prints. When he showed these at Goupil's, his recognition by the
connoisseurs was immediate, and now collectors are greedy for his
etchings. That his way is the happiest etcher's way, seeing his sketch
vital in essentials and expressing it with the most interesting economy
of means, may be seen in his engaging impression of the bridge
of San ^Martin — Toledo, Note the sketchy freedom and the fineness of
9
GREAT BRITAIN
the bitten lines, with the felicitous touches of dry-point. Having
once drawn his subject on the spot, Mr. McBey is able to carry every
line of it in his memory, and, using his needle actually in the acid
from the first, that is, with the Dutch mordant steadily covering the
plate, for he never uses the customary acid bath, he can exactly
reproduce his original sketch, with all its freedom and spontaneity,
while the etching is simultaneously proceeding. Mr. McBey has
etched with individual outlook in Spain, in Holland, and in Scotland.
Architecture makes little or no appeal to him, his interest being in
landscape — the plains, but never the hills — and the sea and rivers,
under all aspects of light and atmosphere, and human beings in
moments of characteristic action. Among the etchers of to-day
there is no more interesting personality, and there are plates of his
that justify one in predicting that, sooner or later, Mr. McBey will
win a place among the masters.
Not the least promising of the younger school of etchers is
Mr. Martin Hardie, and no plates that he has yet produced show
more remarkably than Hey ! ho I the Wind and the Rain^ with its
wonderfully vivid impression of stormy weather over a typical
English landscape, and A Bit of Old Portsmouth, his fine vital sense
of the pictorial, his feeling for design, and his full understanding of
the etcher's medium. Three other clever young Scotch etchers
may be named here. Miss Hester Frood, a pupil of Mr. Cameron,
shows in her beautiful, tenderly envisaged Sussex Farm, and Les Stes
Maries de la Mer, that she also realises the " indwelling solemnity
of expression." Mr. William Walker is more interesting in his
spacious conception of those Dutch sand-dunes, with the nestling
seacoast village, than in his vivacious, if perhaps less individual,
dry-point rendering of *S. Sulpice — Paris. Mr. J. Hamilton Mackenzie
gives us well-designed and well-etched views of the Cathedral of
St. Francis — Assisi and The Cathedral Tower — Bruges.
Mr. Luke Taylor is an artist of large pictorial vision, and he
etches with the authority of an admirable craftsman. The Sheepfold
is an excellent example. He knows trees, and feels their scenic in-
fluence. So, too, does the Hon. Walter James. His trees, one feels,
are actually rooted in the ground, and the very spirit of their growth
animates their picturing at the hands of this sincere artist. The
Ilex is a remarkable piece of intimate etching. No less characteristic
of Mr. James's art is the happy Summer Afternoon on the Moors, a
Northumbrian subject after his own heart. That Mr. Reginald
E. J. Bush also looks at trees with a loving pictorial eye and a true
appreciation of the way they grow is obvious in New Forest Beeches,
but still more so in the charming intricate unity oi Boulder Wood — New
lo
GREAT BRITAIN
Forest. One can hardly look at Mr. Ness's boldly conceived Fringe
of the Wood without thinking of Mr. Oliver Hall, and wishing
that that masterly etcher of wide tree-dominated landscapes would
return for expression to the copper-plate.
Mr. Albany E. Howarth, an etcher whose considerable promise
is rapidly fulfilling itself, makes, perhaps, his greatest popular appeal
in such accomplished plates as The West Doorway — "Rochester and its
companion. The Prior s Door — Ely ; but I find more charm of indivi-
dual vision, more evidence of his artistic development, in his broadly
conceived dry-point Simonside — Northumberland. Mezzotint he
handles boldly, if not with any special subtlety, in Corfe Castle.
For truly sensitive expression in mezzotint we may turn to the
work of that earnest and well-equipped artist, Mr. Percival Gaskell,
whose very beautiful plate Where Forlorn Sunsets Flare and Fade on
Desolate Sea and Lonely Sand shows poetic appreciation of the subtleties
of the medium. Its capacity for vivid dramatic effect he has ex-
ploited in The Mad King's Castle. Mr. Gaskell is especially expressive
in tone, his aquatints are exquisite ; but as an etcher we see him
true to the best traditions of the art in a delightful plate The Mouth
of the Wye. This one may say also of Mr. C. J. Watson's Saint
Ouen — Pont Audemer^ a characteristic example of a distinguished and
most accomplished etcher ; of Mr. Percy Robertson's charmingly
dainty vision of The Long Water — Hampton Court ; and of Mr. Robert
Spence's Corner Boy — Rye, a most original view of that Mecca of the
contemporary British etcher, taken from the church tower, on
which this gilt " corner boy " is one of the clock's supporters. The
composition here is of that masterly quality one might expect from
the artist who has given us the superbly dramatic series of etchings
illustrating George Fox's " Journal," an achievement unique in the
whole range of the art, and one that collectors should prize.
The classic style and masterly impressiveness of Sir Charles
Holroyd are finely exemplified in Stockley Bridge., a plate of much
artistic dignity. The Acropolis^ for all the classic glamour of its
subject, is scarcely so distinguished. An artist of high distinction
and exquisite daintiness of vision, Mr. Theodore Roussel, the accom-
plished President of the Society of Graver-Printers in Colour, is
here represented by two fascinating dry-points, Baby and The Terrace
at fSMonte Carlo. Dry-point too, but more robustly used, is the
medium of a very fine piece of vital characterisation, 'Portrait of my
Mother, by Mr. Malcolm Osborne, a young etcher from whom great
things may be expected. A piece of delicate and artistic etching and
vivacious presentment is the Old " Morning Post'' Office in the Strand,
by Miss Constance Pott, a genuine artist, with a remarkably versatile
1 1
GREAT BRITAIN
command of mediums. In aquatint she has done lovely things, but
here she proves, in this charmingly sympathetic Portrait of my
Mother, that mezzotint for original portraiture can be handled by a
living engraver with an artistry and vitality that would have done
credit to any of the famous reproductive mezzotinters of the
eighteenth century. Mr. David Waterson is also one of Sir Frank
Short's most accomplished followers in the use of this medium.
In Turning to Windward — off the Yorkshire Coast, Mr. Nelson
Dawson is at his happiest as an etcher of free and vivacious line,
while Halle aux Poissons shows his bold pictorial handling of aquatint.
Happy, too, is Mr. William Lee Hankey in his admirable etching
1>utch r5Market and his characteristically bold dry-point Prayer ; while
Mr. Sydney Lee, who expresses his artistic versatility through paint,
colour-print, wood-block, and lithograph, is here seen in The Tower
as a vigorous and impressive etcher.
Mr. Hugh Fisher's characteristically -designed and daintily
wrought plate The British Bridge — Canton calls to mind that brilliant
and much-travelled young etcher Mr. Ernest Lumsden, some or
whose plates, done in China and British Columbia, are full of an
exceptionally engaging vitality and inherent etching interest. This
can also be said of two vividly picturesque prints by the distinguished
veteran Sir J. C. Robinson, showing aspects of landscape under heavy
rain-storms, A Swollen Burn and October Rainfall in Spain.
San Marco — Venezia is pictorially the most interesting of the three
of Mr. Axel Haig's' large, elaborate, and popular plates. Of even
greater popular appeal at the moment, perhaps, are Mr. Hedley
Fitton's prints of primarily architectural interest ; while characteristic
buildings have also inspired Mr. Arthur J. Turrell, Mr. William
Monk, and Mr. Frederick Marriott.
Let me conclude on a note of colour, for the original colour-print
has undoubtedly come to stay. That sympathetic artist, Mr. Alfred
Hartley, shows us here, together with a fine black-and-white aquatint,
oAt the Boat-'Builders\ a charming vision, in tender tones, of Silvery
5^(ight. This was printed presumably from aquatint plates. But
Mr. William Giles has adapted the principles of the wood-block to
the metal plate, and evolved a process of colour-printing from a series
of cameo, instead of intaglio, plates. This process, permitting the
printing of pure colours, would seem to offer great pictorial and
decorative possibilities. tA ^Midsummers 3^Qght — Traelde ^N^es —
'Denmark, a lovely, poetic thing, is the pioneer print of this new
method of Mr. Giles's, done from four zinc cameo plates and one
intaglio, though Mrs. Giles has since produced an exquisite little
print, perfectly pure in colour, from five cameo plates only.
12
GREAT BRITAIN
(By permission of the
Fine Art Society Ltd.)
A GATE OF NAPLES." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY FRANK BRANQWYN, A.R.A.. R.E.
13
GREAT BRITAIN
"a mosque, CONSTANTINOPLE.' ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY FRANK BRANGWYN, A.R.A., R.E.
(^By permission of the
Fine Art Society Ltd.)
14
GREAT BRITAIN
{By permission of the
Fine Art Society Ltd.)
'the crucifixion." original etching
by frank brangwyn, a.r.a., r.e.
15
- Ill
O °=-
I h
i6
17
GREAT BRITAIN
t ''ii^rr"
NEW FOREST BEECHES." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY REGINALD E. J. BUSH, A.R.E.
19
5 -J
o I-
20
"^«
GREAT BRITAIN
RAMESES II." ORIGINAL ETCHING WITH DRY-POINT
BY D. Y. CAMERON. A.R.A . /'.R.S.A,
GREAT BRITAIN
THE CHIMERA OF AMIENS." ORIGINAL ETCHING WITH
DRY-POINT BY D. Y. CAMERON. A.R.A., A.R.S.A.
23
GREAT BRITAIN
f
'TURNING TO WINDWARD— OFF THE YORKSHIRE COAST,'
ORIGINAL ETCHING BY NELSON DAWSON, A.R.E.
25
GREAT BRITAIN
HALLE AUX POISSONS. ' ORIGINAL
AQUATINT BY NELSON DAWSON, A.R.E.
26
GREAT BRITAIN
'evening glow.' original aquatint by
sir alfred east, a.r.a., p.r.b.a., r.e.
27
GREAT BRITAIN
THE AVENUE." ORIGINAL ETCHING BY
SIR ALFRED EAST, A.R.A.. P.R.B.A., R.E.
28
GREAT BRITAIN
'the white mill." original etching by
sir alfred east. a.r.a., p.r.b.a., r.e.
29
d at
4
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52
31
GREAT BRITAIN
r ^rssir^^^msspmi-::- - ^^'mry'<iisrfK)mB!^s^'^^iW''.'l^^Wi^mi
'ST. ETIENNE DU MONT, PARIS." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY A. HUGH FISHER, A.R.E.
32
GREAT BRITAIN
(By permission of Mr. Robert Dunthorne)
'LA TOUR DE LHORLOGE. TOURS.'
ETCHING QY HEOLEY FITTON. R.E.
33
GREAT BRITAIN
ST. HILAIRE, POICTIERS." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY HEDLEY FITTON, R.E.
(By permission oj Mr. Robert Dunthome)
34
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37
GREAT BRITAIN
THE MAD KING'S CASTLE. ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT
BY PERCIVAL GASKELL, RE., R.B.A.
38
GREAT BRITAIN
"A MIDSUMMERS NIGHT.' ORIGINAL ETCHING
IN COLOURS BY WILLIAM GILES.
41
GREAT BRITAIN
' UES STES MARIES DE LA MER.' ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY HESTER FROOD
42
GREAT BRITAIN
(Published hy Mr. Robert Dunthorfie)
'aSSISI — OCTOBER EVENING.
ETCHING BY AXEL H. HAIQ.
' ORIGINAL
R.E.
43
GREAT BRITAIN
(Published by Mr, Robert Dunthorne)
'geierstein." original etching
by axel h. haig. r.e.
45
GREAT BRITAIN
"SAN MARCO, VENEZIA." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY AXEL H. HAIG. R.E.
iFuhlishcd by Mr. Robert Diinthorne)
46
GREAT BRITAIN
THE PRAYER. • ORIGINAL DRY-POINT
BY W. LEE HANKEY. R.E.
47
GREAT BRITAIN
A DUTCH MARKET." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY W LEE HANKEY, R.E.
48
GREAT BRITAIN
.
"SILVERY NIGHT. • ORIGINAL ETCHING
IN COLOURS BY ALFRED HARTLEY, R.E.
GREAT BRITAIN
" AT THE BOAT-BUILDERS'." ORIGINAL
AQUATINT BY ALFRED HARTLEY,' R.E.
51
GREAT BRITAIN
A BIT OF OLD PORTSMOUTH. " ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY MARTIN HAROIE. A.R.E.
52
I- .
H 2
53
GREAT BRITAIN
AN EASTERN WATER-WHEEL." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY WILLIAM HOLE. R.S.A.. RX.
54
55
57
GREATSBRITAIN
.,-%4iL^. a** -4
SIMONSIDE, NORTHUMBERLAND." ORIGINAL
DRY-POINT BY ALBANY E HOWARTH. ARE.
(^Hy permission of Messrs. Colna^hi and Oback
and Messrs. Dowdesvuells)
58
GREAT BRITAIN
IQii^K^Wnl* -. .
'^'..-^ ^«^.,ji-
(By periiiisiion of Messrs. Colnaghi and Ohach
and Messrs. Do^udeswells)
WEST DOORWAY. ROCHESTER." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY ALBANY E. HOWARTH, A.R.E.
59
GREAT BRITAIN
{By permission of Messrs. Colnaghi and Obach and
Messrs. Dou'deswclls)
CORFE CASTLE." ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT
BY ALBANY E. HOWARTH, A.R.E.
6i
GREAT BRITAIN
\^.^:y^ -
THE ILEX." ORIGINAL ETCHING BY
THE HON. WALTER J. JAMES, R.E.
63
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2 o
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CO Ul
64
'«r-'*i\ ',
GREAT BRITAIN
/^'^^X^^*^^^^
THE POKE-BONNET." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY PERCY LANCASTER, A. R.E.
65
GREAT BRITAIN
#
'THE TOWER.' ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY SYDNEY LEE. A.R.E.
66
67
GREAT BRITAIN
'CATHEDRAL OF ST. FRANCIS, ASSISI." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY J. HAMILTON MACKENZIE. A. R.E.
69
GREAT BRITAIN
0.n-~j.^^ l.w,.^ <>^
CATHEDRAL TOWER, BRUGES." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY J. HAMILTON MACKENZIE, A.R.E.
70
GREAT BRITAIN
'chateau LAUDAN, FRANCE." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY F. MARRIOTT, A.R.E.
71
z 5
I I-
72
73
GREAT BRITAIN
'the fringe of the wood.' original
etching by john a. ness, a.r.e.
75
GREAT BRITAIN
PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER." ORIGINAL DRY-POINT
BY MALCOLM OSBORNE, R.E.
76
GREAT BRITAIN
'THE OLD 'MORNING POST' OFFICE IN THE STRAND.'
ORIGINAL ETCHING BY CONSTANCE M. POTT, R.E.
77
GREAT BRITAIN
PORTRAIT OF MY MOTHER." ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT
BY CONSTANCE M. POTT. R.E.
78
79
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ft;
82
O O
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if
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83
GREAT BRITAIN
THE BABY." ORIGINAL DRY-POINT
BY THEODORE ROUSSEL
84
85
87
88
89
91
F
92
GREAT BRITAIN
THE FISHERMAN." ORIQINAU DRY-POINT
BY WILLIAM STRANG, A.R.A.
93
95
GREAT BRITAIN
THE CORNER BOY. RYE." ORIGINAL ETCHING BY ROBERT SPENCE, R.E.
96
GREAT BRITAIN
,9<iii/ixr7^^^r^-'
'the SHEEPFOLD." original etching by LUKE TAYLOR, R.E.
97
GREAT BRITAIN
'interior of the LORENZER KIRCHE, NURNBERG.
ORIGINAL ETCHING BY ARTHUR J. TURRELL
{By pertitUsion of Messrs. Coinaghi and ObacK)
98
GREAT BRITAIN
{By permission 0/ Messrs. J as. Conn ell and Sons)
"S. SULPICE, PARIS." ORIGINAL DRY-POINT
BY WILLIAM WALKER
99
GREAT BRITAIN
ROCKY LANDSCAPE." ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT
BY DAVID WATERSON, RE.
I02
GREAT BRITAIN
"OLD COULL." ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT
BY DAVID WATERSON, R.E.
103
GREAT BRITAIN
^~^-r
SAINT OUEN, PONT ANDEMER." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY CHARLES J. WATSON, R.E.
104
AMERICA
AMERICA. By E. A. Taylor.
THE first attractive qualities in the work of American artists
have always been supreme technical ability and a noticeable,
close following of English tradition. It is only within recent
years, and under the influence and strong personality of
Whistler, and his masterly achievements as an artist and a
painter, that a sleeping spirit has awakened to the realisation that
technical ability is not the all of art and personal progress stagnates
by imitation.
Various mediums of expression have been utilised with marked
individuality and skill, and the further possibilities of etching have
not been amongst the least to be explored, in spite of timid teachers
and their love of tradition, which was accountable for a prevalent
belief that oil paint was the only medium through which great things
could be accomplished.
It is also due to the latter-day practice of etching that the com-
parative value and relation between it and pen-and-ink drawing have
been universally understood, and that in comparison personal, original,
and creative precedence belong to the pen-and-ink drawing, qualities
only equivalently connected with the etched plate and not with the
prints made from it by other than the artist. One may dismiss this
as a minor difference, but it ,is just that little which eliminates the
prefix " commercial " from art and gives the personal note which is
never quite achieved by a recognised printer, no matter how sympa-
thetic he may be with the artist's intentions.
There are, however, characteristics personal to the medium of
etching which give to the print a substance and attraction which most
pen-and-ink work lacks. With that inherent quality of its own, its
apparent ease of attainment, and not too strictly limited means of
production, it makes a popular appeal to the younger enthusiasts who
have found in painting a life-long road of exploit with many
travellers. But no matter what road to success in art appears most
gentle to tread, a seemingly simple medium's assistance only delays
the sad awakening. Thus we have in our midst to-day hundreds of
incompetent artists whose mediocre work stifles the channels through
which sincerity was wont to flow.
In spite of the abstract nature of etching as a medium of
expression and the most excellent examples containing that quality,
the increasing number of its adherents seems content to reproduce
mournful reiterations of nature, valuable only as documental facts,
and a one-sided manifestation of technical ability.
It is with the same mannerisms and neglect that colour-etching
has lately publicly displayed itself as a poor substitute for tinted water-
colour drawing. This, however, does not necessitate a belief that
107
AMERICA
Others cannot find in it special features and abstract results which
will give a more infinite satisfaction.
The glorious right of an artist, as of any other good workman,
is his freedom, and it is only by courageous insistence and unflinching
persistence in it that any special development has been attained. To
maintain it, it is not necessary to imply a hasty annihilation of tradi-
tion, only a steady reformation of it in the spirit of the times in
which we live. For not until belief overcomes doubt and courage
dethrones fear will we be quite able to ignore it.
Each year the majority of exhibited works continues to demon-
strate the fallacy that the ideal of art is the over-worship of nature,
by expressing nothing beyond craftsmanship and the exaltation of the
superficial. Only by a universal realisation of the fact that art is the
ideal of nature, not nature the ideal of art, can we hope for a fuller
expression and find in it the man greater than the artist.
Amongst the most prominent American etchers whose future
still holds the promise of greater things, Joseph Pennell stands out as
an untiring spirit, from whose vast experience, apart from his well-
known work in lithography and etching amongst other mediums,
artists the wide world over have benefited ; while his authorised publi-
cation of the " Life of Whistler " by his wife and himself has been of
inestimable value. In his Cafe Oriental — Venice he awakens certain
kindred associations with Whistler, and in his Old and New Rome and
San Juan de los Reyes — Toledo his etching-sympathy with his subject
is most feelingly expressed. Amongst the younger etchers, Donald
Shaw MacLaughlan holds an enviable position ; there is a distinct
personality about his prints. In them no trace is found of imitative
weakness of other masters' work over which he may have lingered,
and only what was inherently common to himself he has retained
with a greater assurance. As a man of exceptional talent and a
gifted artist, John Marin is quite unique. There is little which
leaves his studio with his own approval but what has been through
the mill of his concentrated emotion and self-criticism. His desire
that his etchings should be little letters of places is fulfilled in his Par
lafenetre — Venezia, ^ai des Orfevres, and St. Gervais, which are little
letters of an artist.
For more than superficial advancement the later work of Lester
G. Hornby is remarkable. In his Notre Dame de Paris and La
Colline he has quite outstepped my appreciation of his work in a
recent number of The Studio. In all his plates executed this year
the same distinctive energy and quality of vitaHty, never absent from
any good work, are distinguished and personally sustained.
That the majority of the etchers represented here are young is
io8
AMERICA
undoubted proof of the popularity of the medium as a means ot
expression. It is only a few years ago since Herman A. Webster was
fascinated by the wonderful possibilities of etching, and with untiring
energy stepped rapidly into the honoured list of American etchers.
Living in Paris he finds amongst her old streets and buildings innu-
merable inspirations for his etching-needle, Vieilles ^Maisons, rue
Hautefeutlle being very characteristic of the subjects he finds most
attractive, and Sur la ^ai ^Montebello is reproduced from one of his
finest prints.
Frank Milton Armington and his wife, Caroline H. Armington,
though of Canadian birth, are closely associated with American
etching, and like many other prominent members of their profession
they have practically made Paris their home. In the various exhibi-
tions, including those throughout England and America, their work
always occupies a foremost place. Frank Armington's Henkersteg —
Nurnberg is perhaps a little more full and less strikingly spontaneous
than the majority of his other plates, but nevertheless it exhibits his
power over his medium, which in his more recent work he controls
and restrains. laes Thermes, Cluny — Paris ^ by his similarly talented
wife, though a little thin in the reproduction, is very characteristic of
her technique and personal vision.
As a portrait and figure etcher Otto J. Schneider holds a leading
position. Any artist who has become publicly famous for his expres-
sion of certain singular subjects finds it difficult to be as universally
appreciated in others less associated with his name. // Penseroso and
The Old Letter are typical examples of his work in which the figure
is dominant, though in his landscapes he exhibits, with greater
freedom, a no less remarkable ability and versatility.
Augustus Koopman, whose name is more associated with his
monotypes and work in paint, finds in etching a medium of equal
response. In his 'Pushing off the Boat the relative values of line and
black, though sensitively interfering with the recessional quality
critically looked for in similarly representative subjects, exhibit by
their omission the impulsive, restless desire of the artist to quickly
portray, while of dominating interest, that which captivates him. In
the numerous exhibitions which include his work, it is always in
the plates dealing with the transitory effects of nature that his
individuality is most clearly revealed.
Amongst the younger men who have something of their own to
say the work of G. Roy Partridge is particularly interesting. In his
Dancing Water ^ apart from its attractive composition, the sensation of
movement is fascinatingly portrayed. Being one of the new arrivals
his output has not been remarkably extensive, but the plates he
109
AMERICA
has so far exhibited have been quickly acquired by collectors, who
have recognised in his w^ork an etcher of whom America will yet be
justly proud. His Slender bridge is a new rendering of one of his
early etchings, the first result not giving him desired satisfaction. The
original plate has now been destroyed, and a more vigorous interpreta-
tion made of a similar composition. In the same hey-day of life
Lester Rosenfield works silently, and his Old Gateway fully expresses
his own feeling towards etching. The evidence of colour, so often
lacking in black and white, is delicately perceived. Like other men
who find themselves quickly, set rules have never impeded his
progress.
The Cathedral Spire ^ by C. K. Gleeson, is also distinctly in harmony
with his attitude towards the possibilities contained in old archi-
tectural surroundings. Having resided in Paris for some four years
his associations and outlook have been greatly widened, and a more
complete mastery of his medium has given to him that touch of
assurance necessary to all artists who wish to convey with spontaneity
the inward impression received. He is at present making his first
return to America to hold an exhibition of his work, which has
always been welcomed in the various English and Continental
galleries.
In colour, American etchers, with but few exceptions, have
not shown any notable examples, the .most distinctly personal and
interesting results yet attained being those by Lendall Pitts, who exhi-
bited some remarkable results of his experimental achievements in the
St. Louis Museum of Fine Arts in 1908. In his studio in Paris he
works heedless of recognised methods and public appreciation,
producing many little masterpieces with delightful simplicity. Sunset
on the Lake, Castle of Sigiienza — Spain and The Cascade are unique
illustrations of his colour-etching and aquatint.
There are inherent in etching certain characteristics that one
closely associates with the work of a woman, and it is not surprising
that women artists, who have added it to their other accomplish-
ments, have produced work as distinguished as that which, through
some traditional primitive barrier, is so often only ascribed to the
capabilities of man. In the coloured plate oA Spring Poem, by
Helen Hyde, there is a personal daintiness and quiet charm that
is rare, if not entirely missed, in similar subjects of a dominant,
subtle delicacy executed by men. With the same distinguished
equality The Tangle — Chioggia and A Sunny Corner — Villejranche, by
Bertha E. Jaques, are most notable, and like all her work — born of
much self-tuition — are strikingly personal. Intensely appreciative
qualities are also evincible in the figure-work by Miss Nell Coover,
no
AMERICA
who catches not only childish simplicities in her etchings, but also
obtains in her drawing their often unobserved and neglected
characteristics.
Several etchings reproduced here are by members of the
Chicago Society of Etchers, organised in 19 lo under the presidency
of Earl H. Reed and the secretaryship of Bertha E. Jaques. The
society already numbers some 67 active and 212 associate members ;
and though of short existence, it has been the means of doing in
America work of a similar importance to that of the Royal Society of
Painter-Etchers in England. To the illustrations of the works of its
prominent members, justifying more than a restrained mention, it is
impossible to more than appreciatively refer, and allow the repro-
ductions to accomplish the justification of their inclusion here : the
simply executed Heralds of the Storm^ by Earl H. Reed ; the Steel-
Workers, vigorously conceived by Arthur S. Covey ; e^ Country '^ad,
by Charles W. Dahlgreen ; Santa i^aria della Salute — Venice^ by
Charles B. King ; Gas Tank Town — Chicago, by B. J. Nordfeldt ; Cloth
Fair — Smithfield^ by George T. Plowman ; State and Lake Streets —
Chicago, by F. W. Raymond ; and The "L" 'Bridge, Chicago T(ivery
by Phil Sawyer.
In conclusion, if I have appeared to some individually un-
gracious it is unintentional ; I, too, realise the road to the mountain-top
is not all smoothly paved, and what is bad is always easy to find.
aA'd astra per aspera says the old proverb — To the stars through
difficulties.
1 1 1
HENKERSTEG, NURNBERQ." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY FRANK M. ARMINGTON
113
AMERICA
-S. V
.UES THERMES, CLUNY. PARIS." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY CAROLINE H. ARMINQTON
114
» 'hi
•^ -.1
"5
ii6
AMERICA
<^^^ -^ .il-^jC.^*«*-r^
"a country road." original etching
by chas. w. dahlgreen
117
119
V
121
122
AMERICA
'A SPRING POEM.' ORIGINAL ETCHING
'IN COLOURS BY HELEN HYDE.
/^mU^c:;:^^/'^^
'the tangle, chioggia." original
etching by bertha e. jaques
125
126
127
128
(By permission of Mr. R. Gutckunst)
THE GHETTO." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY D. SHAW MACLAUGHLAN
129
(By permission of Mr. R. Gutckunst)
THE CYPRESS GROVE.' ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY D. SHAW MACLAUGHLAN
131
QUAI DES ORFEVRES.' ORIGINAL ETCHING BY JOHN MARIN
132
'>x
'ST. GERVAIS. PARIS." ORIGINAL ETCHING BY JOHN MARIN
iS3
AMERICA
"i^c^ 41/MiU
PAR LA FENETRE. VENEZIA." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY JOHN MARIN
J )• > » >
135
AMERICA
'the slender bridge.' original
etching by g. roy partridge
136
' DANCING WATER." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY G. ROY PARTRIDGE
137
AMERICA
SAN'.JUAN DE LOS REYES. TOLEDO" ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY JOSEPH PENNELL
138
OLD AND NEW ROME." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY JOSEPH PENNELL
139
:.^^
w
141
J^f^ c^Ui^ 'pi'rU. //^/
THE CASCADE.' ORIGINAL ETCHING
WITH AQUATINT BY LENDALL PITTS
142
it:
< H
/f^tXV^VA^
'^- tr-^Jlv~V VVVtlt-W
CLOTH FAIR, SMITHFIELD. " ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY GEORGE T. PLOWMAN
147
'^^^'^gi-r^vi-v^vwJl.
STATE AND LAKE STREETS, CHICAGO." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY F. W. RAYMOND
148
:^
aW, 0f«^« St„,„,
r"
"heralds of the storm. " ORIGINAL ETCHING
WITH DRY-POINT BY EARL H. REED
149
--^^^IZ!^
AN OLD GATEWAY. ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY LESTER ROSENFIELD
150
(KJtjl,-
'THE 'l' bridge, CHICAGO RIVER.
ETCHING BY PHIL SAWYER
151
THE OLD LETTER. " ORIGINAL DRY-POINT
BY OTTO J. SCHNEIDER
AMERICA
'IL PENSEROSO." ORIGINAL DRY-POINT^
BY OTTO J. SCHNEIDER
153
AMERICA
'VIEILLES MAISONS, RUE HAUTEFEUILLE." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY HERMAN A. WEBSTER
155
- A«»«VtfviKv
SUR LA QUAI MONTEBELLO." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY HERMAN A. WEBSTER
156
FRANCE
FRANCE. By E. A. Taylor
IN any development or new movement in art France has always
taken a leading part. Paris was quick to encourage the revival
of etching, which met with so little encouragement in England,
. and with its still greater recognition, uses, and progress the de-
mand to-day for etchings has been the means of limiting the
burin engraver to his original small field of exploit. It has not been
uncommon for me to meet artists whose original means of livelihood
had been the engraver's burin, to find later that they had thrown it over
for the freedom of expression that etching offers. Despite the vast
increasing roll of modern French etchers the honour of pre-eminence
in the present, as in the past, must still be given to Auguste Leperc.
The energy and vitality of youth are never absent from his matured
knowledge of line. In retaining those remarkable qualities throughout
life lies the secret of the individual creative spirit observable in all
great and lasting achievements ; to retain them is no easy task and to
attain them there is no royal road. It is just that vigorous, ever-
young, observant, and creative spirit, rhythmically sustained in
medium, subject, and technique, which makes the work of T. A.
Steinlen always distinctive. Though there are many brilliant
draughtsmen who possess similar technical characteristics, there are
few whose art contains a similar gentle greatness. Recognised
instruments and rules of procedure occupy no dominant thought in
his methods of interpretation. In his Gamines sortant de r'Ecole and
Les Errants, a darning-needle and aquatint obtained his desired result ;
and in his colour etching Retour du Lavoir there is no attempt to go
beyond his medium's power of simple expression.
Amongst the work by other French etchers whose talent each
year evinces no stationary contentment, Im Pluie and Pluie et Soleil
are excellent examples by G. de Latenany. With a more measured
expression the recent compositions of Le Pont des ^Arts and Le Pont
Royal, by Eugene Bejot, are distinctly characteristic of his delicate
handling. In the combination of etching and aquatint, Andre
Dauchez gets a more natural quality and less of the abstract to which
pure line-etching is singularly limited. In his La Dune de St. Oua/,
realism, movement, and colour are charmingly suggested. Amongst
/those not of French birth, but who have made Paris their home,
Edgar Chahine holds a leading position as an etcher of masterly
talent. His dry-point La belle Rita is typical of his figure-work, by
which he is better known, though his etchings of other more varied
subjects exhibit a no less dexterous versatility. It is the various
temperaments that etching reveals which make it singularly attractive.
There is perhaps no other branch of art in which mannerisms,
affectations, and influences can be so easily detected, and it is only
159
FRANCE
since its revival, which enlisted the painter, that the aesthetic,
romantic, and dramatic elements obtainable have been relatively
explored. In the beginning of that revival one finds the work and
name of Felix Bracquemond prominently figuring. His little dry-
point La Seine, vue de Passy, contains many elements worthy of
careful study. Of a later period, Gustave Leheutre is enrolled
amongst the important French etchers, whose working interest
chiefly lies in the portrayal of old city thoroughfares.
Maurice Achener, A. Beaufrere, J. Beurdeley, Amedee Feau, G.
Gobo, Charles Heyman, and Jacques Villon are still in the spring-
time of their success. In the illustrations it is noticeable how the work
of each artist stands out distinct from other assimilations of vision
marring their own individuality, though temperamental affinity
to Leheutre is subtly noticeable in J. Beurdeley's etching and
dry-point Les Enfants dans le Port de Concarneau, and a Corotesque
affinity in his Matinee d'Automne. It is in the same love of the gentler
approach to the subject one finds Maurice Achener employing his
knowledge of the needle's limitations in his Ponte St. Apostolic Venezia ;
and A. Beaufrere, with a keen observance and sure command of pure
line, expressing with thoughtful simplicity the trees, undulations,
and roadway in his Chemin avec les Saules. Like all good work,
Im Place du Conquet, Finistere, by Amedee Feau, is delightful in
balanced composition and colour suggestion, and an excellent sense
of movement and dramatic vigour is revealed in La Grande Brasserie,
Bruges, and Dechargement a Anvers by G. Gobo. The less impulsive
landscape and architectural etchings by Charles Heyman leave little
to be exactingly desired ; his refined technique and personality,
expressed in Un Coin de Bagnolet and Dans le Hagdigue, make a
concentrated and intimate appeal. In imaginative and symbolistic
expression Marcel Roux excels ; his Biblical subjects are strikingly
impressive, and those of the more ignored sides of life arrest by his
power of having achieved what he set out to attain. His Demon
guettant is reproduced from one of his earlier prints. It is in the
simply employed use of aquatint and colour that the etchings of
Jacques Villon are most pleasing. His spontaneous ability and restraint
are vigorously portrayed in his Marc hands des ^uatre Saisons.
That etching, as a branch of art apart from its fascinating
accidents and means of expression, is also a process of reproduction
which interests many of the present-day dealers, artists, and students,
cannot be denied. And it is from that summit of growing popularity
it is most likely to fall. It is only by a greater public appreciation
and learned interest in what is good that the knowledge so attained
of what is bad will save it from such deadly contempt.
1 60
i6i
^^. «#«'•,
CHEMIN AVEC LES SAULES." ORIGINAL
DRY-POINT BY A. BEAUFRERE
(By permission n/M. Ed. Sagot)
162
^^%ip*(*wptf»a«apPBa''-'«--'*«^ ■''^'^■
V.
163
LE PONT DES ARTS." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY EUG. BEJOT, R.E.
{By permission of Messrs. Jos. Connell b' Sons)
164
I05
i67
•^
'-^^^000^-
'la seine— vue de passy." original
dry-point by felix bracquemond
{By permission of M. Ed. Sagot)
1 68
'^
169
IJO
IJA U<AA»*«N
(By pet mission of M. Ed. Sagot)
"PLUIE ET SOLEIL. " ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY G. DE LATENAY
171
{By permission of M. Ed. Sagot)
LA PLUIE." ORIGINAL ETCHING BY Q. DE9LATENAY
174
DECHARGEMENT A ANVERS." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY G. GOBO
175
LA GRANDE BRASSERIE, BRUGES. " ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY G. GOBO
176
.* • •
■e'SSS^ff^*i*«S?S'5T^?5a!8it'' '
By permission o/M. Ed. Sagot)
UN COIN DE BAGNOLET." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY CH. HEYMAN
177
y.'. '.^ fct^jzju—-
DANS LE HAGDIGUE." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY CH. HEYMAN
(By permission of M. Ed. Sagot
178
'/• '." ': •■^":-?;:s^
179
i8o
(By pertnission of M. Ed. Sagot)
"la petite mare.' original etching by a. LEPERE
i8i
•••^
■83
^
184
V
i8S
i86
FRANCE
~^ljff9^
( By per^nission of M: Hd. Sas:t>tJ
"RETOUR DU LAVOIR." ORIGINAL ETCHING
IN COLOURS BY T. A. STEINLEN.
i89
HOLLAND
HOLLAND. By Ph. Zilcken
WHEN I was asked to write a short notice of the work ot
the leading Dutch etchers of to-day the task seemed
rather a delicate one, because, as an etcher, it is difficult
for me to speak of the work of my fellow-artists without
certain restraint. However, with the exception of my
friend Charles Storm van 's Gravesande, who spent many years abroad
and has only lately settled again in his native country, I am in
Holland the oldest witness of the development of the art in that
country, and I think I am, therefore, qualified to deal with the subject.
Storm van 's Gravesande, who was boi:n at Breda in 1 841 , was our
first etcher to meet with success both at home and abroad, and he
did so long before any other Dutch etcher attained any reputation.
Though he is over seventy years of age he is as active as ever. Nulla
dies sine linea seems to be his motto, for he is always trying, with
restless enthusiasm, to render the brilliancy, light and subtleties of
colour harmonies in oils, water-colour, or pastel, after having spent
most of his life in interpreting with splendid success the effects of
light, tone, and motion in the deeper harmonies of black-and-white.
With a charming and almost " Hokusai-like " irony Storm van *s
Gravesande said to me recently "In ten years I shall start again to
etch," knowing very well that if he never produced another plate
his fame as an etcher is established.
After Storm van 's Gravesande comes a generation of etchers,
who first achieved prominence after 1880. We find these artists
mentioned as exhibitors at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889.
They include Miss Barbara van Houten, William Witsen, and
myself. Miss van Houten commenced her career mostly with re-
productive work. She interpreted freely the masterpieces of Millet,
Daubigny, Jules Dupre, and others. At the same time she often
etched plates of still-life and figure-subjects, all direct from nature,
treating them in a very individual and robust style. She succeeded
in expressing extreme delicacy of touch and texture with lines
strongly bitten.
Born at Amsterdam in i860, William Witsen began by etching
rustic figure-subjects, but a series of plates of London and the
Thames soon attracted attention. Later he made a special study or
the old Dutch towns, working in oil and black-and-white, and his
views of Dordrecht and Amsterdam are in every way admirable,
giving a typical if somewhat gloomy impression of these towns.
Plates like his Amsterdam Grachen are faithful visions of the dreary
capital on the banks of the Amstel and Y. Of late years he has
executed many aquatints and sulphur-tints, and has done very little
in pure line-etching.
193
HOLLAND
At the 1889 exhibition in Paris Miss van Houten showed, besides
reproductions after the French masters, a frame of original etchings ;
■while Storm van 's Gravesande and Witsen exhibited some rustic
scenes and views of London and Holland. I myself was represented
by some large plates after Jacob and Matthew Maris and Alfred
Stevens, though at the International Exhibition at Amsterdam in
1883 I had some original etchings. The Musee du Luxembourg, the
Cabinet des Estampes at Paris, and the New York Public Library all
possess representative collections of my work. Like my fellow-
artists mentioned here I practice both etching and painting.
In 1889 Marius A. J. Bauer (born at The Hague in 1867) pro-
duced his first etching. The Dutch Etchers Club had been formed
and a print by Bauer was required for the portfolio. Having pre-
pared a plate for him we bit and printed it in my studio. I soon
realised that he had at once "found himself" in this medium. I have
closely followed his development and I fully appreciate the special
place he holds in our art.
While most of our painters are bound to realistic subjects, which
by perfect treatment and intense feeling they have raised to pure
poems, Bauer is a visionnaire, gifted with much decorative fancy and
knowledge of composition. He once wrote to me : "To enjoy rightly
Constantinople one must have some imagination and think what this
place was like two centuries ago." So he sees Turkey, Egypt, India,
and Tunis, making each subject a reconstruction of former glory.
According to the celebrated opinion of Vosmaer, as an etcher Bauer is
a ^tvitct Jidneur on the copper, where he lets his imagination roam,
without much thought of technique or of that fascinating labour
of biting, which is so delightful to most etchers. Since the Paris
Exhibition of 1900 Bauer has seen his works gain the highest awards
at most of the International Exhibitions.
Anton Derkzen van Angeren, who was born in 1878, is one of
the most accomplished etchers we have. In his youth he had a hard
struggle, and for a long time he occupied himself painting on china
at the Delft factory, just as some of the Barbizon men did at Sevres.
I knew him well in his early days as an etcher, and I remember
how deeply I was impressed by his work. Some of his plates are
extremely delicate and the linework most expressive ; some arc
elaborated like complete paintings, as, for instance, his Winter ; while
others, like his series of " skulls," are exceedingly clever and of real
pictorial interest. He has devoted himself more especially to Dutch
river scenery, and since he has settled at Rotterdam he has depicted
many typical groups of sailing-boats and steamers anchored on the
Maas. In his works one may always observe a rare brilliancy of light.
194
(,By permission of Messrs.
E. J. van Wisselingh <Sr* Co.
ILLUSTRATION TO P. VILLIERS DE LISLE-
ADAM'S " AKEDYSSERIL. ■ ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY M. A. J. BAUER
195
UJ o
z 1-
H O
V
196
197
(^By permission of Messrs. E.J. van W isselingh&f Co.)
A FESTIVAL DAY AT CAIRO." ORIGINAL
DRY-POINT BY M. A. J. BAUER
199
X,'
j^^frf^i.
■ranii^SST-^.
203
SUNFLOWERS." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY BARBARA VAN HOUTEN
204
205
l1f>AjW[ \f*J^ '/ [jAXkl/^dJn^
'^W .
■■':3tf:,-M-!fWf-
TITLE-PAGE FOR A PORTFOLIO. ORIGINAL DRY-POINT
BY CH. STORM VAN 'S GRAVESANDE
207
i$m
t^ts^.-.f ■>-*.=■. .-^ -^ - ■-
IT
m
i
i^
1
!W ■
' Mi
(■ I
f: '
11 i I
1
208
m«^,.,iWMmmmm
IX^ff/r a»i^:iSfS^ :.
%
209
(By permission of Messrs,
E. J . van Wisselin^h &' Co. )
TWILIGHT ON THE HEATH." ORIGINAL ETCHING
WITH AQUATINT BY W. WITSEN
AN OLD CORNER IN AMSTERDAM.
ETCHING BY W. WITSEN
(By permission of Messrs.
E. J. van Wisselingh 6r Co.)
/ fy
b \
213
215
< Ht*^-
LA MADONNINA DEL CAMPO PISANO, GENOA.
ORIGINAL ETCHING BY PH. ZILCKEN
2l6
AUSTRIA
AUSTRIA. By A. S. Levetus
THE art of etching was first practised in Austria about the
middle of last century, when the Gesellschaft der Kunst-
freunde encouraged the graphic arts by presenting an annual
album to its members containing lithographs, engravings, and
etchings. These, however, were chiefly reproductive efforts,
for it does not seem that copper-plate and needle were resorted to as a
means of expressing original artistic conceptions. It was not till
Wilhelm Unger was called from Hanover to Vienna, to become a
Professor at the Imperial Academy, that fresh impetus was given to
the study of etching. But, great as were his powers, both as a
master of technique and as a teacher, his work lies beyond the scope
of the present article. He has, however, trained many distinguished
artists, men who have given forth excellent original work, and who,
moreover, are masters of the technique of etching. On his retirement
in 1908, Ferdinand Schmutzer, a Viennese by birth, was unanimously
chosen as his successor. He has shown his capability as a teacher
as he had already proved it as a painter and an etcher. Schmutzer,
though not in the strictest sense of the word a pupil of Professor
Unger, had learnt his technique from him. As an etcher he soon came
into prominence by the masterly manner in which he manipulated
large plates, and by the excellence of his work as a portrait-etcher.
In this branch of the art he was the pioneer in Austria. A keen
student of the Old Masters, he has yet remained uninfluenced by
them ; his contrasting of light and shade, his masterly manner of
achieving artistic effects by purely artistic means, are essentially his
own. His work, and more particularly his etched portraits, are
soft in tone, while the expression of the lineaments of his sitters is
masterly. Of late Schmutzer has done some excellent coloured work
— floral, architectural, and other subjects, and also coloured portraits ;
but it is as an artist of the highest rank in black-and-white that he
will go down to posterity.
Rudolf Jettmar, who is also a Professor at the Imperial Academy
of Art, is a German-Bohemian, endowed with a dreamy, imaginative
temperament. He is a great lover of music, and this is traceable
in his compositions, at times as solemn as a great orchestra, sometimes
in a lighter vein, but always revealing a deep feeling underlying the
gayer tones. His medium is always black-and-white, but by these
simple means he achieves rich effects of colour. His work always
appeals by its unquestionably high qualities, its suggestiveness, its
rare refinement and intellectuality.
Ludwig Michalek, though a Hungarian by birth, has passed
the greater part of his life in Vienna, where he is now a Professor at
the Imperial Graphische Lehr-und-Versuchsanstalt. He has executed
219
AUSTRIA
some very notable etched portraits and landscapes, but of late he has
devoted himself to w^ork of a different nature, the etching of moun-
tain bridges in different stages of building and tunnels in process of
construction. In this direction Michalek has shown himself equal
to the stupendous task placed before him. He is a sincere artist,
who avoids everything pertaining to conventionality, and who is
always seeking fresh means for expressing his art.
Max Svabinsky is a Czech, a native of Prague, where he is a
Professor at the Imperial Academy of Art. He is a brilliant draughts-
man, an artist of great originality, possessing a temperament with a
leaning towards fantasy. His work is always effective in treatment,
impressionable and illuminative. Others of the older Austrian etchers
are Max Suppantschitsch, Emil Orlik, Alfred Cossmann, Fritz Hegen-
barth, Professor Bromse, M. Jakimowicz, F. Kupka, and Jules Pascin.
To a younger group of etchers, all pupils of Professor Unger,
belong the landscapist Richard Lux, Ferdinand Gold, the etcher of
animal subjects, who has done excellent work in this direction, chiefly
in dry-point, and Luigi Kasimir, whose bent chiefly lies in depicting
architecture and street scenes, an artist of many parts. His work
has great artistic merit, and he always handles his needle with skill
and taste. Armin Horovitz is an artist of distinct individuality, who,
though he has but recently entered on his career as an etcher, is well
known as a painter. He works in various combinations of needle,
vernis-mou, aquatint, and colour, chiefly on large plates.
Marino Lusy, a native of Trieste, studied in Paris. His work is
subtle, atmospheric, and delicate, more suggestive than real, poetic
and indefinable. T. F. Simon, a native of Prague, lives chiefly in
Paris. His plates in colour show great freshness and purity, and are
notable for their refined atmospheric effects and delicacy of manipu-
lation. Ferdinand Michel, a colourist, and Oskar Laske have both
done capable etchings.
The youngest etchers are pupils of Professor Schmutzer. Quite
in the van of this group is Max Pollak, a native of Prague, aged
twenty-six. The works here reproduced show him to be possessed
of true artistic feeling combined with a mastery of technique. He
is forcible but modest, and in every way an etcher of great promise,
whose career it will be interesting to follow.
Lastly, mention must be made of a group of lady etchers, all
pupils of Professor Michalek. Anna Mik, M. von Lerch, Emma
Hrnczyrz, and Tanna Kasimir-Hoernes are all recognised as etchers of
merit, each in her own particular line. Their work testifies to sound-
ness of manipulation coupled with artistic truth.
220
AUSTRIA
'THE MUSICIAN." ORIGINAL AQUATINT
WITH ETCHING BY ARMIN HOROVITZ
mMfhfni
"youth and age." [original
etching by rudolf jettmar
223
DIE FELSENSCHLUCHT." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY RUDOLF JETTMAR
(^By permission of the Gesellscha/t /Ur
Vervieljaltigende Kunst, Vienna)
224
'die karlskirche." original etching
WITH AQUATINT BY LUIGI KASIMIR,
225
226
227
Lu^L.
'temps PLUVIEUX a BRUGES," ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY MARINO M. LUSY
228
LA CHAUMIERE." ORIGINAL AQUATINT
BY MARINO M. LUSY
229
AUSTRIA
^''— >^— ^/^K^^*\-•JJ^M^
DIE QUELLE KASTALIA, DELPHI." ORIGINAL ETCHING
WITH AQUATINT BY LUDWIG MICHALEK
230
o 9
CO o
231
STUDY OF A HEAD." ORIGINAL ETCHING
WITH DRY-POINT BY MAX POLLAK
232
233
FRANCISKANER PLATZ, VIENNA." ORIGINAL ETCHING
WITH AQUATINT BY MAX POLLAK
234
■^■OTWiWJSSf-vy^s^*!. -
'THE ALSTADTER-RING. PRAGUE." ORIGINAL
ETCHING IN COLOURS BY T. F. SIMON.
n
l^s^-v.. ^r^^"-^'' N
CARL GOLOMARK. " ORIGINAL ETCHINQ
BY FERDINAND SCHMUTZER
237
"prof. THEODOR LESCHETITZKY." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY FERDINAND SCHMUTZER
239
AUSTRIA']
ALTE FRAU.' ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY MAX SVABINSKY
{^By permission of the Gesellschafl Jib
Verviel/altigcnde Kunst, Vientta)
240
241
GERMANY
GERMANY. By L. Deubner
IT is impossible within the limits of a brief essay such as this to
describe fully the progress of etching in Germany during the
past decade. I must refrain from enumerating all those artists,
among them some of rare talent, who are doing good work
in this field, nor must I dilate upon the causes which have
furthered this progress. Our attention must be restricted to those
who devote their energies either wholly or mostly to etching. In their
works one may see demonstrated the original and diversified lines on
which the German school of etching has developed, and how it has
maintained a character of its own uninfluenced by foreign prototypes ;
and they also show that it has no need to fear comparison with the
work of other countries, from whose great masters they have learned
no less than from the German masters like Diirer, Schwind, or
Richter.
Prominent among the German etchers of to-day is Peter Halm,
whose plates, by their perfect technique and the deep feeling with
which they are imbued, count among the best now produced in
Germany. As professor at the Munich Academy he has proved an
excellent instructor to many who to-day are striving towards the
same goal ; not only has he given them a thorough insight into the
manipulation of the instruments of their craft, but he has been to
them an exemplar of honest, conscientious craftsmanship, instilling
into them a horror of banal effects and slipshod methods, and an
unflagging devotion to the pursuit of perfection. In that way his
influence has been much greater than he in his modesty will admit,
and has extended far beyond the circle of connoisseurs who have
learnt to appreciate the fine qualities of his prints.
Amongst Professor Halm's pupils the nearest to him in point or
view and choice of motif is Carl Theodor Meyer-Basel, who, a
Swiss by birth, has for many years made his home in Munich, and
therefore counts as a German artist. He is a landscapist who ap-
proaches nature with a feeling akin to reverence. He has a keen eye
for the "soul" of a landscape — for that which gives to it individuality
and charm. In landscape, as portrayed in his plates, a profound calm
reigns, undisturbed by human or animal life. The valleys and
lakes of the Bavarian table-land, out-of-the-way villages and nooks
of little mediaeval towns are the motifs he prefers.
Another pupil of Professor Halm, Alois Kolb, who has taught
at the Royal Academy, Leipzig, for some years past, regards the
portrayal of the human figure alone, or in relation to landscape, as the
great problem of art. In the nude figures which are rarely absent
from his prints it is impossible to discover the slightest suggestion
of sensuality ; they are quite passionless, and, especially in his large
245
GERMANY
plates, which are often a yard square, are characterised by a certain
monumentality and immundane grandeur like the landscape back-
ground with which they so completely accord. Kolb has illustrated
several important books, such as the great edition of Ibsen's "Pre-
tender" and Kleist's "Michael Kohlhaas," and is not above doing
addresses and diplomas, menu covers and business announcements.
An artist of quite another kind is Willi Geiger, who likewise
owes his technical training to Professor Halm, but who with bold
impetuosity quickly freed himself from dogmas and conventions of
every kind and embarked on a line of his own. The feverish
eroticism of his earlier plates is in marked contrast to the chaste purity
of Kolb. These fantastic prints, full of bitter ferocity or grotesque
pathos, reveal Geiger at the climax of his art and as a perfect master
of his technique. In his series of plates illustrative of Spanish bull-
fights, the fruit of a prolonged stay in Spain, he abandons this
technique in order to essay other and quite different modes of
expression. In a free sketchy manner, akin to that of the portrait
of Siegfried Wagner, he portrays with unfailing assurance the rapid
movements of beasts and men, quivering with eagerness for the fray.
In this series the artist has brilliantly overcome the difficulties of
the task he set himself.
Joseph Uhl, who has his abode amidst the solitude of the
mountains near Traunstein and whose mature craftsmanship may
be seen in the portrait of his little daughter, has also enjoyed the
benefit of Professor Halm's guidance. He is, perhaps, the most
promising among the younger Munich draughtsmen. The little head
reproduced here shows with what loving care and scrupulous exacti-
tude he works, and in the series of larger prints forming the cycle
called " Love's Mystery," he again proves himself a master of form
and an artist with a discriminating eye for essentials.
Heinrich Vogeler, of Worpswede near Bremen, might be called
the lyric poet among German etchers, for he is a romanticist of
tender feeling and overflowing fantasy. In his prints the spirit of the
fairy-tale, the mood of spring-time dwell. The technique is as subtle
and minute as the venation of a butterfly's wings, but intricate as his
prints may seem at first sight, they are always wonderfully clear, full
of poetic charm and engaging beauty.
Georg Jahn is an adapt in rendering the gracefulness and charm
ot youthful female figures. In his mezzotint Das Waldbad^ the flesh
of these healthy young bodies is modelled with so much delicacy that it
seems to stand out soft and pliant against the velvety black of the
shaded parts. The other example of his work reproduced was
executed during a lengthy sojourn by the Zuyder Zee.
246
GERMANY
:f5t:#*3B*'fi(CUW:j5.'!t^. f:
SIEGFRIED WAGNER." ORIGINAL
DRY-POINT BY WILLI GEIGER
247
253
254
GERMANY
/^^^^
"STUDY OF A BOY." ORIGINAL
DRY-POINT BY JOSEPH UHL
THE ARTISTS DAUGHTER." ORIGINAL
DRY-POINT BY JOSEPH UHL
256
V
"the LARK" (SELF-PORTRAIT). ORIGINAL "
ETCHING BY HEINRICH VOQELER
257
"THE8FROQS BRIDE." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY HEINRICH VOQELER
259
SWEDEN
SWEDEN. By Thorsten Laurin
ALTHOUGH one of the most universally known and most
appreciated of living etchers, Zorn, is a Swede, one could
hardly speak of a Swedish School of Etching as existing
previous to the last five years. There have been a few
painters and architects, each of whom has produced
perhaps a dozen etchings, such as our great portrait-painter Count
Georg von Rosen, whose plates Death and the Artist and The
Baptism are known and admired by a few art-lovers ; or Reinhold
Norstedt, the poetic interpreter of the Swedish summer landscape, a
pupil of Corot and Daubigny, who in his small plates succeeded
in expressing the charm of the summer night in Sormland, our lake
district. But the etchings of these artists were seldom exhibited,
and consequently never collected. Hence a School has never been*
created.
The only famous Swedish etcher of the old generation, Axel
Herman Haig (in Swedish Hagg), has lived for more that thirty
years in England, where he is one of the best-known etchers of
architectural subjects, and his work is represented in the portfolios of
many English and American collectors rather than in Stockholm or
Gothenburg. Three of his etchings are reproduced in this volume.
One of Haig's pupils was Anders L. Zorn, the glory of Swedish
graphic art, who, when he was practising water-colour painting in
London in 1882, took some lessons from Haig, whose portrait was
Zorn's first effort in a medium in which later on he was destined to
achieve such fame. Since 1898 so much has been written in The
Studio in praise of Zorn's etchings, of which numerous reproductions
have also been given, that I need not do more here than refer to
his latest plates — the charming nude 'Rdo ; Mona^ the sympathetic
portrait of the artist's mother ; and Djos-Mats^ the old clock-maker.
These three plates appear amongst our illustrations, and are in every
way worthy of the master's high reputation.
Zorn's great friend and rival in contemporary Swedish art is
Carl Larsson, who is perhaps the cleverest and most original draughts-
man we have ever had. His etchings are often more like drawings
on a copper-plate than etchings in the accepted meaning of the
word ; nevertheless they are fine productions, and I cannot recall any
other living etcher who possesses so varied a style. The ceuvre grave
of Carl Larsson comprises about one hundred plates, many of which
are already so rare that it is almost impossible to procure them.
Another Swedish etcher, well known to the readers of The
Studio, is Count Louis Sparre, who finds his subjects in many different
parts of the world, in London or Cornwall, as in The Return of the
Ftshmg-boats ; or in Finland, as in the very effective Winter Night.
263
SWEDEN
Of late Stockholm and Wisby, the mediaeval and picturesque capital
of the island of Gothland, in the Baltic, have taken his fancy.
That Sweden can at last boast of a good school of etching is to a
great extent due to Axel Tallberg, who ishimself a very clever crafts-
man. All our leading present-day etchers, including Zorn and
Larsson, have studied under Tallberg, if only for a short time ; as also
has Prince Eugen, the brother of King Gustav of Sweden. The Prince
is not merely a noble dilettante, but a serious and able artist who
devotes all his time to art ; and he is at present one of our leading
landscape painters. The limited number of etchings which he has
executed, including some in colours, show the same qualities as may
be seen in his painting — a mystical feeling for nature, expressed in a
most individual manner.
The energetic and original architect, Ferdinand Boberg, is still
a young man, though it is some years since he etched his last plates,
of which those reproduced here are typical. The handling is free,
and the sentiment picturesque. An architect-etcher of a very
different type is Hjalmar Molin, who is more or less the Haig of the
younger generation. His motifs are always architectural, but rendered
with considerable freedom. His Burgos Cathedral and Porta della
Carta are among his best plates.
Skane, the richest and most populated province of Sweden, has
so far played a very unimportant role in contemporary Swedish art,
and only one of its living artists has given us anything really
important. I refer to Ernst Norlind, the painter of birds, quiet
farm-yards, and quaint old country churches surrounded by grave-
yards. In his etchings the same motifs are found, treated in a simple
but decorative manner.
Among the younger generation of artists, Gabriel Burmeister
takes the leading place, chiefly as the founder and president of the
Graphic Society, a union of young etchers, lithographers, and
wood-engravers formed only two years ago. It has already held
•successful exhibitions at Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmo, and has
aroused more public interest in the native graphic arts than any other
movement which has taken place in Sweden for many years. Another
member of this society who should be mentioned is Arne Hallen.
A talented etcher, who used dry-point more than any other Swedish
artist, was Knut Ander, who died a few years ago. Strange to say
he is the only Swedish artist who has come strongly under the
influence of Zorn,
264
^.^vMi
jy^:^^^>f
■■ IN HARBOUR." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BY FERDINAND BOBERQ
265
THE EXPRESS." ORIGINAL ETCHING
BYCFERDINAND BOBERG
266
NIGHT-CLOUDS." ORIGINAL MEZZOTINT
BY PRINCE EUQEN
267
269
(S:'
LISBETH AND THE CALF." ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY CARL LARSSON
270
"k . c4yr€4:„*^
'the storks nest.' original
etching by ernst norlind
271
SWEDEN
'A SWEDISH VILLAGE.- ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY ERNST NORLIND
272
27.^
WINTER NIGHT/' ORIGINAL AQUATINT
BY COUNT LOUIS SPARRE
274
SWEDEN
EDO." ORIGINAL ETCHING BY ANDERS L. ZORN
KING OSCAR II OF SWEDEN. ' ORIGINAL
ETCHING BY ANDERS L. ZORN
277
jriQisS
'mONA. ■ ORIGINAL ETCHING BY ANDERS L. ZORN
278
'DJOS mats. " ORIGINAL ETCHING BY ANDERS L. ZORN
279
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE
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AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS
WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY
WILL INCREASE TO SO CENTS ON THE FOURTH
DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY
OVERDUE.
FEB 9 lies
^EC 16 '^^
O
MftR T t93b
JAW 29 1934
27Jur50H]
JAN 1 6 1981
FEB 30 1985
REBClROEC19t994
LD 21-2n?-l,'33 (52fii)
YE 2Q968
GWW»>-
UBRW^"*^ «""'''
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