The Vinton record. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1866-1891, 1868-10-01
mmned-pmlchromo and says Jol

art 50 @ = " Il W
Your critic draws a model Of
an American boy Of a certain
type; "Whoever,' he says, "has
this ideal in his eye will not see
much life or nature. in, Mr.. John
sons pretty cherub.'
Very likely not; but if the
poet who drew far different
ideal, when heIsees it embodied
on canvass declares it to be a
"charmine ILLUSTRATION" Of it
what then| Is not the painter
justified and the critic con
demned.
| Most of the structures which
your critic makes on chromos
are entirely out ofAplaee, ,jtes
cause they imply claims for the
new ,,arE7 which iiolfe efets
friends have ever asserted.
Chromo-lit -lithographyis not the
art O. Of producing original
paintings, but simply the art Of
reproducing AthelH Gn abs6lute
or nearly perlecttae-Simile. In
a high sense nothing is art
which is not creative and orig.
inal. From that point of view,
chrome photography is simply Il
handicralt. But from that
point Of view, also, every pain
ter, however eminent, ceases to
be an artist and becomes Il
mere workman (more or less
skillful) the very moment that
he begins to copy one Of his
own pieces, or the pictures Of
any one else. If there is no
merit in copying awork of art
with entire accuracy, both as to
the form and sentiment, then
chromo-lithography is Il worth
less invention, but. if, there as
merit-artistic merit-in re-
producing q work Of art with
fdelity-in drawing, color or
spirit-there is at least as much
credit due to the chromo-litho.
grapher as to the copyist with
brush or palette. As Asperlect a
knowledge Of the principles of
drawing and coloring as great
n skill inFmanipuiation isrqs
quired to produce a first class
chrome, as to copy Il painting
in the ordinary way. The
slightest lack Of skill or know.
ledge onthe part of anyone,
artist or pressman, at any stage
Of the complex process is in
stantly detected by the prac-
ticed eye in the finished per-
formance.
No, "tricks" whatever are
used in legitimate chromo-lifh-
ography to produce the legiti-
mate effects Of painting.
:"Loaded touches" produce ef.
fectS in painting which nearly
all smooth pistureselack; it is
absolutely necessary to repro
duce these touches in order to
give the effect of the original.
if your critic will examine
first class chrome before and
altel:wlmt he Calls the 'embosa
ing" process, lie Will see at
once that it is one of the most
important elements in an eflec-
tive reproduction. There is no
deception" intended. All our
chromOs-all our best produc-
tions -haye the name of Cur.
firm on 5theiapictdrg ;withIdie
name of the original artist, and
the name also. of the artist of
our establishment, who copied
it and superintended its publ
cation, and there are only a
very few exceptions to this rule,
in cases where our firm was at-
cidentally omitted, 1 Every
chrome and every half-chromo
issued by our house, has also a
conspicuous label on the back,
which makes any attempt.at de-
ception impossible. Instead cf
attempting TO palm off our
chromos for paintings-as
seems implied in the artiqle qR.
der notice I've have paHislicd
very extensively i'll. our own
ART Journal, and in hundreds
of leading papers a c,lear. expla-
nation of t'How> Chromos Are
made" Neither in fact nor
fancy, therefore, is it true that
we "remain nameless," ',in sub
,limene gattoDt Jim drdefthdtw6
may be true to art and his
pocket" On the contrary, by
every worthy and legitimate
method, ! take, especial pains
to be know n only IS a reprodu-
Ger of works of art. | claim,
that what journalism is TO liter
ature Schrnno-l -lithpgHhy 7fs
/ to'art. And as Richter says:
why should one quarrel with