The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-05-26
THE PHILOSOPHY OF ETCHING.


guagcs alsu which would express i'm a manner
so perfectly courteous that nobody coud take |
OhCnse at it, what we mean by the ubrnse pe,- |
sons ignorant Of art. If we say 'the laitvn |
borrowing the old clerical form we are cour- |
teous OUT we do not exactly say what we mean, |
because n layman in this sense is merely per- |
son who Is not professionally an artist, and il |
does not follow that he is ignorant of art. IT, |
on the other hand, we plainly use the word zig |
norant, or any word which means the same
thlng, we seem to be guilty of rudcness and CON
tempt towards the immense majority of the
public, and an unfortunate impression is con-
veyed that we are proud of our own superior
knowledge, when in reality we are simply aware
OF difference which is the natural result of "a
different employment of time and effort, and
which in all other human occupations is re-
garded by every one as inevitable. 1t is still
more dangerous to use the word "yulgar."
although we may attach no ContemptuOus
meaning to it, because i'm ordinary conversa-
ton 1t is associated with the idea of ill-breed-
ing.
1t might, perhaps, be permitted us to attempt
the introduction of term which has no asso-
Citations OF reproach. person ignorant of art
might be called an atechnic, q man not techni-
cally instructed. 1t is true that the word bears
more practical than theoretical sense but
this would not be a reason for rejecting il, since
the rudimcnts of critical knowledge can only be
acquired practically, and no one ever saw form
or color delicatey enough to criticize well
whose eye had not been educated by practical
artistic study.
In every fine art there is much which is ille-
gible by atechnics, and this is due to the habits
Of Interpretation into which artists always fall
and which grow upon them with the increase of
their culture. For reasons which have already
been explained by the best English and COnti-
mental writers upon art in books which are
widely circulated, and which it is unnecessary
to quote, the fine arts are less initiative
than interpretatiye, and the nObler the artist
the more frankly interpretative he is. Now,
there is always, in artistic Interpretation, a
siderable element of conventionalism; the artist
begins with set of postulates of which the
tha ttrl
the line which might be worded thus: LET it
be granted that the line, though it does not
exist in nature, may be admitted in art for the
sake of the forms which may be defined by it,
A liberal criticism is always willing to grant all
the postuatcs which may be necessary to the
free development of an art. In oil painting
there is important postulatc about light,
LET it be granted that white lead may mean the
highest sunlight;" and there are also other pos
tulates about color which might easily be eN
pressed if they did not carry us somewhat be-
yond the subject of this paper.
Etching may be defined as the stenography of
artistic thought and there exists in etching an
amount of colventionasm scarcely less than
that which exists in all other stenographies.
But as there are good and bad stenOgraphies so
there are good and bad styles in etching, and
these may be distinguished by reason, aided by
artistic perception and experience. Very many
systems of shorthand writing have been in
vented, and it may appear to persons who have
not studied shOrt-hand-to persons who, as
regards shorthand. are atechnics-that it is not
easy 10 ueCuc WHICH Is JuG DGSJ, WIlGIcilS SlllCG
all the systems of shorthand aim only at two
results, and at the same two results-namely, to
be as rapid possible and as legible rs possible
and since, in compliance with the first OF these,
only the very simplest line, and the very
simplest curves are admissible, the question of
relative merit narrows itself to one Of intelli-
gent combinations and, after comparing several
systems of shorthand, it is easy to see which
system answers its purpose best In the same
way, since etching proposes to itself the rapid
autographic rendering of artistic thought, the
best manner in etching, the manner most
in conformity with reason, is that which
combines the maximum OF speed with
the maximum of eXpressional clearness, so
that it may be written Off whilst the thought Is
fresh and vivid, and easily read afterwards by
the author of it, and by any one else who has
learned to read that kind of artistic writing. All
waste of labor, any movement OF the hand
which is not necessary to the expression OF the
thought, is departure from the ideal of the
art. But however good and legible an etching
may be, 1t cannot be legible unless we have
learned to read it-uness, that is, we have
acquired by practice the power of seeing at once
through the Sign employed the idea signifed by
it. A time comes ultimately when the sign
suggests the natural fact or the artistic idea so
instantaneously that we come to look upon the
two as insepaTable, and cease TO be aware OF
the conYentiOnalism of the sign. As Blake de-
cared that he looked through his cOrporeal eye,
and not with it, so it is not an eXaggeration to
say that we look through the hurried lines OF
artistic shorthand, and not at them. For the
shorthand in itself is nothing we care only for
the meaning of it. Where the atechnic sees a
few irregular horizontal lines ut the top of a
piece of paper, the artist, by instantaneous asso-
citation of the sign with the thing signifed be-
holds the serene sky; where the atechnic sees an
undecipherable medley of scrawls and scratches,
the artist reads the glory of a sunset amongst
the Illuminated clouds. The tenderest and
noblest poetry leaves us cold if we have never
learned the characters in which it is written, and
good etching is the poetry OF drawing writer
down rapidly in shorthand.
1t may seem incredible that an art so inOffen
siye and non-popular should have enemies bu
the present writer has known many instances ir
which fine etchings have appeared TO give of
fense and it is sometimes not quite safe to con
fess that they afford you pleasure. If you say
YOU enjoy certain plates of the more rapid anC
abstract kind, atechnics often consider that yol
make such professions from an aifectation o
superior knowledge, and they do not altogethe
like Won for it. certain amount of circum
spectfon is necessary in the ayowal OF your pre-
ferences: for instance there are plates OF Rem
brandt and some of Whistler and Jongkind
which a collector wise in his generation Wou
refrain from exhibiting to atechnics. They hay
an uneasy suspicion that you are amusing yonr
self at their expense when you say that thes
things are of fine quality. If you venture to sa
90 in nrint and your book or article should Ia
iUtn he hands of some thoroughly atechnic re
clever he will treat you as the victim OF mono
mania. ,.,, e., ,,,o,, .. ,
that is however very simple and ought TO D
inteIigible even to persons VINO 90 not lllu l, III
art itself Ineligible to them III Is merely
%nestion of time given, and of eXcellenc
attainable within the limits OF the tlme. II yo
give a month to piece OF work, you , uo NJ
Sci about il in the same way rs you Woulu
S'on had only a week to do it in; and ii you ha