Nebraska advertiser. [volume] (Brownville, Nemaha County, N.T. [Neb.]) 1856-1882, 1870-01-06
An Art Workshop.

II we HuOulu say budb OuJ III IeO4-
bury 30 horsepower COrliss engin
was turning out oil paintings at the
rate of hn dreds per day, the public
would think that modern Munchau-
sen was writing for the Bulletin but
when we say that such an engine is
turning out pictures so soft, 50 spirit
ed and so accurately reproduced. that
the average observer cannot distin-
guish them from oil paintings, we
should be stating a simple fact. In
the last atlantic Monthly Mr.. Parton
gave long and very interesting ac-
count of the art of chTomO-lithOgraphy
derived from an inspection of the
works of Louis Prang and Co. Under
his graphic and skillful handling
chromO-lithOgraphy was made to as
sumo its proper rank as an art; and
as such-as a novel and important de-
velOpement of industrial science,
which this paper regards as one of its
peculiar fields, it seems to demand a
more than casual notice at our hands.
The works of Louis Prang & Co., of
Boston, are the largest of their kind
in the world, trebling in extent and
facilities the largest chrome establish
ment in England. Whether chrome
photographic painting be regarded as
fine art or as mere mechanical aptness
and skill, as some critics will have it,
the possession of the principal studio
or workshop in the world is something
to boast of. And when it is Temem-
beTed that this great establishment
running 45 printing presses, and Civ
ing employment to 80 hands, has
grown up virtually within six years,
one experiences an exces of astOnish-
ment tand pride. Ifchromo-lithgraphy
is not an art, it is in one sense better,
since it goes where pure art cannot go,
and does a work in popular aesthetic
culture, which the latter could never
accomplish.
Six years of success-succes5 so full
as to establish the merit of his work
beyond a doubt, and to assure a mar
ket for all the chrOmO-lithographs he
could possibly produce, having sup
piled the pecuniary wherewithal, Mr..
Prang proceeded to carry out long
cherished plan, in the erection Of
factory adapted in all respects for his
work, and which should afford faeili-
ties for supplying the rapidly increas-
ing demand for his products. This
frctOry was completed last Fall, and
has now been in operation four or five
months. 1t stands in ROXbury, (nOw
a part of Boston since its annexation
near the station of the Boston & Prov
idence Railroad, main structure of
brick, 80 by "a feet, and three and one
half stories, with flat roof and balus-
trades. A screw elevator runs from
basement to upper story, carrying
passengers or freight as desired. At
the left of the main entrance is a room
which contains the foundation of the
chrOmO-lithOgraphy-the stones from
which, covered with drawings, the
finished pictures are produced. These
stones all come from Bavaria, none
having been found elsewhere so well
fitted for this work. In this room
the stones are ground, polished and
grained, and brought to that peculiar
condition which qualities them to
receive the drawings of the artist.
Adjoining are the engine and boiler
rooms, where a beautiful 20 horse
power COrliss does its nOisless task,
and a huge boiler of so horse power
supplies steam for heating and prOpul-
sion. Thence the visitor passes to the
treasure-hOuse of the establishment, a
spacious fre-prOOf vault, where are
carefully stored many tons of stones,
from which chrOmOs have been prin-
ted, and which constitute the wealth
of the firm, Gs stereotype plates are
the wealth Of the publishers.
Stepping on board the elevator the
visitor is in a moment landed i'm the
second story, and finds himself be-
tween two long rows of presses, all
giving out q pleasant clatter. The
room is 100 feet long and flooded with
light. At the farther end is an apart
ment devoted to the use of the fore
man of the printing room. Here he
sits and through the glass partition
watch the swift-mOving presses and
the busy figures of the pressmen, or
turning treat his eyes to a charming
outlook of trees and sky and pleasant
houses. a dozen or more presses are |
driven by steam; others by hand
power. The process of printing seems
to be the simplest thing in the world,
as one sees it here merely the ad-
iustment of the stone on the press, the
laying on of a sheet of paper, the turn
ing of q crank and the removal Of the
sheet. But this work requires an
apprenticeship of years aslight mat |
tentiOn of printer may spoil a stone,
and the whole edition of a picture.
Everything in the press-roOm is neat |
and orderly, and the work goes on as
if by clock work.
One story higher are the office
rooms, Mr.. Pang's private Office, the
artists room and the picture gallery. |
In the first, financial business of the
firm, including advertising &C., is
conducted, and in the Iaft-a dainty
little apartment, lighted from the roof |
are suspended in elegantfitting frames
specimens of many chrOmOs produced |
in the establishment. The upper !
story is used for storage of stock, but |
the constant and heavy demands of !
public have not permitted a fair test |
of its capacity. Here too, is the fin !
ishing room, where the final touches !
of skillful hands fit the pictures for |
their frames here they are mounted, |
sized and vanished.
1t would be impossible in the limits |
of an article like this, to convey a just !
idea of the process of chrOmO-iithO- |
graphy; but its most important steps
may be briefly indicated.
4AAC SlOuC ID 4lob SlOulAu anu pDAlcl1-
ed or grained, as the character of the
drawing to be made on il requires the
drawing is next made; then follow
the etching, proving, and preparing
the plates for the press; next comes
the printing, and lastly, the finishing,
mounting, sizing, &c. This is a COM
paratively brief catalogue Of stages,
and the Inference would be natural
that chrOmO-lithOgraphy is a very
simple and easy process. But when
it is added that an artist is often en-
gagged for months in the reproduction
on stone of single pictuse, that in
lithOgraphing some pictures more
than thirty different stones have to be
used, and that throughout the whole
work, a degree of skiIl-tO say nothing
of artistic genius, patience and care is
requisite, such as is demanded in few
other emplOyments Of the human
brain and hands, it will be seen that
such an inference is unwarranted.
Everybody knows what lithOgraphy